Organizational Wellness Creating a Healthy and Integrated Culture

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I have gone through the training, as have several coworkers. We all thought it was excellent. I have personally found it of value. I love the format, content, everything. It is truly a good product. - Linda Feltes, Wellness Project Manager, Minnesota

We so appreciate all you've done to help get our Flexible Work Options e-learning pilot ready to roll out.
- Kriste Stevenson, TJX

THANK YOU. As always, you are a treasure-trove of help and information. I really appreciate WFC so much!
- Mary Kalifon,Cedars Sinai Medical Center

WFC Resources has done an excellent job creating their web-based course, From Stress to Resilience. I'm very impressed with the presentation, the graphics and the overall design and functionality. With lots of information, interactivity and truly interesting content, this program will certainly go a long way toward helping employees change their behavior for good. - James Porter, President, StressStop.com

I've been getting good feedback. Both employees and managers are finding the training informative, helpful and fun. Just what I'd hoped for! - Nancy Montgomery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

WFC Resources consulting services taught us that work-life is a business issue and helped us learn us how to deal with it as a business issue.
- Mike Chapin, Workforce Diversity Consultant, Xcel Energy

I wanted to share how wonderful I think the courses are. (They) will serve as the foundation of our flex resources, and I look forward to getting them up and running.
- Ian Reynolds, Johns Hopkins University

What is resilience?
The dictionary offers several definitions of the word

Featured Product

The Virtual Workplace: A Guide for Managers and A Guide for Staff

Working remotely can mean increased productivity as well as staff that is more engaged and committed. These two e-courses will teach managers how to get the most from their remote workers, and employees how to make the arrangement work for everyone..

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Latest News

The 29 best jobs for work-life balance
Attention to work-life balance continues to build in the U.S., so much so that some might consider it a movement. Arianna Huffington’s recent career switch is a clear example. In 2007 the founder and then-CEO of The Huffington Post was so.... More

Rethinking the work-life equation
Phyllis Moen, a sociologist who was widowed when her two children were young, has made a career studying the challenges of working full time while raising a family. She was an early voice calling for the government to provide paid maternity.... More

The great PBS Newshour work-life balance experiment
Last month, we devised a company-wide social experiment. In pursuit of work-life balance, we would each choose one thing we love but can’t seem fit into our lives, and for one week, we would fit it into our lives. We’d just find a way to do.... More

Third-party keyboard gives mobile users more options
BEFORE the iPhone arrived in 2007, no one really thought typing on touch-screen keyboards was a good idea. Since then we have become expert at tapping on the glass of our phones and tablets. While the built-in keyboards from Apple, Google and.... More

A student loan program where even death is no reprieve
Amid a haze of grief after her son’s murder last year, Marcia DeOliveira-Longinetti faced an endless list of tasks — helping the police gain access to Kevin’s phone and email; canceling his subscriptions, credit cards and bank accounts;.... More

4 things women don't do at work
Recently, Facebook COO and LeanIn.org founder Sheryl Sandberg co-wrote an op-ed in The New York Times to break down a harmful stereotype: women don't, or won't, help other women in the workplace. A double standard as old as time, an aggressive.... More

Study: Men need work-life policies as much as women
Have you seen the T-shirt slogan: Dads don’t babysit (it’s called “parenting”)? This slogan calls out the gendered language we often still use to talk about fathers. Babysitters are temporary caregivers who step in to help out the.... More

Who can afford time off? The real cost of a vacation.
The travel industry is very lucrative. So, how much does a vacation really cost a traveler? The travel site Hipmunk put together a handy infographic that gives us a pretty good idea by examining the cost involved for a family of four visiting.... More

The key to having it all
Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. Most of us want it all, but many women struggle with the idea of having it all and often find themselves having to choose between having a happy fulfilled.... More

Dogs test drug aimed at slowing aging process
Ever since last summer, when Lynn Gemmell’s dog, Bela, was inducted into the trial of a drug that has been shown to significantly lengthen the lives of laboratory mice, she has been the object of intense scrutiny among dog park regulars. To.... More

A labor watchdog who's not all bite
On a recent Wednesday at lunchtime, Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez strolled through the clattering kitchen of the Modern, the haute eatery at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. As sous-chefs finished plates of poached salmon and foie.... More

France considers outlawing after-hours work e-mails
After-hours and weekend work emails may soon become illegal in France. A bill that prevents companies of 50 or more employees from sending emails after typical work hours passed the French lower parliamentary house earlier this week. The case.... More

Rethinking justice for 17-year-olds
NEW ORLEANS — When Chené Marshall got into a fight in high school, she assumed she might get suspended. Instead, the police arrested her.
Then a 17-year-old junior with no criminal record, she did not realize that Louisiana was one of the.... More

A refusal to lower the bar at a Minnesota law school
MINNEAPOLIS — On a recent rainy spring day, students and professors at the University of Minnesota Law School looked ahead to year-end exams and May 14 graduation as they bustled between classes. But behind the academic routine, Minnesota’s.... More

Midwest leads the nation in number of working mothers
Nationally, 73 percent of women who have children under age 18 at home are in the labor force, working full-time, part-time or actively looking for work. Midwestern states lead the nation. South Dakota has the most working moms (84 percent),.... More

Savvy moms find way to achieve work-life balance
Sometimes all it takes is an idea to change your life. For Shiva Kashalkar, that idea took shape shortly after she gave birth to her daughter. Though deep into her career as a senior project manager with her MBA from Babson, the arrival of her.... More

5 steps toward better work-life balance
Have you more than once considered how nice it would be to work 9 to 5, as did our parents and grandparents? And how nice it would be to not check your smartphone 24/7 for work-related texts and messages? It’s a given that some business.... More

Working overtime to fill jobs
Spiraling retirements and shrinking unemployment in rural Minnesota are driving worried factory owners to get creative so that current workers stay and future workers come. After years of chronic worker shortages, plants statewide are taking.... More

Coca-Cola to give new dads paid time off
Coca-Cola on Tuesday became one of a small but growing number of companies offering paid leave for new fathers as well as mothers — a step advocates say brings modernity to benefits packages stuck in the “Mad Men” era. The Atlanta.... More

Will you sprint, stroll or stumble into a career?
At the age of 18, G. Stanley Hall left his home in the tiny village of Ashfield, Mass., for Williams College, just 35 miles away, with a goal to “do something and be something in the world.” His mother wanted him to become a minister, but.... More

FDA eases requirements on abortion pill label
The Food and Drug Administration stepped into the politics of abortion on Wednesday, relaxing the requirements for taking a medication that induces abortion, a move that is expected to expand access to the procedure. The move was a victory for.... More

Deeply split Supreme Court wrestles with abortion case
WASHINGTON — A Supreme Court deeply split over abortion wrestled Wednesday with widely replicated Texas regulations that could drastically cut the number of abortion clinics in the state. As ever, Justice Anthony Kennedy appeared to hold the.... More

Getting pregnant after a miscarriage
A woman who miscarries early in pregnancy is often told to wait at least three months before trying to get pregnant again. But a new study suggests it can be fine to try again as soon as possible. Researchers studied 998 pregnancies lost at 20.... More

Seize the morning: the case for breakfast
I used to work nights. You can draw that card at a newspaper, same as you might in a hospital or police station, in a factory or a financial house doing business in markets that hum while the rest of America sleeps. I did not cook dinner much.... More

McDonald's top executives to get super-sized raises
McDonald's is planning some big raises for its top brass, according to a filing late Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Steve Easterbrook, CEO of the world's largest burger chain, is set to receive an 18.2 percent raise in.... More

Unions wield limited weapon: the 24-hour strike
The janitors who walked off the job in the Twin Cities Wednesday night and Thursday morning were forced by economics and the evolution of American labor to resort to what appears to be a weak weapon: a strike that lasted just one day. The.... More

How meditation changes the brain and the body
The benefits of mindfulness meditation, increasingly popular in recent years, are supposed to be many: reduced stress and risk for various diseases, improved well-being, a rewired brain. But the experimental bases to support these claims have.... More

How to make home birth a safer option
Many medical students are taught this adage: “When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras.” It means that we, as physicians, need to remember that common things are common, and that we shouldn’t immediately focus on the rare or.... More

Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck
Most Americans don’t have the money to handle common emergencies like a car breakdown. In a national survey by Bankrate.com, 63 percent of people said they don’t have the savings to cover a $500 car repair. Only four in 10 Americans would.... More

Worker salaries appear ready to rise
Washington — American workers are poised in 2016 to finally get what they've been missing for years: higher salaries. Even as the recovery from the Great Recession brought booming corporate profits, most workers' salaries have barely kept up.... More

Simple rules for healthy eating
Over the past few months I've written a number of times on how nutrition recommendations are seldom supported by science. I've argued that what many people are telling you may be inaccurate. In response, many of you have asked me what nutrition.... More

Women's hockey grows bigger, faster, dire
The gold medal game at the Sochi Olympics last year represented the pinnacle of women’s hockey: a captivating 3-2 overtime victory by Canada over the United States that drew almost five million viewers on NBC.
But Amanda Kessel, a leading.... More

The one question you should ask about every new job
Two years ago, a student of mine was torn on where to start her career. While applying for jobs in finance, technology, consulting and marketing, she realized that her biggest concern wasn't what she did, but where she worked. When it comes to.... More

Rate hike from the Fed is likely to be a tiny one
WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve policymakers are expected to end months of speculation Wednesday and raise a key interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade. But for average Americans hoping for noticeably higher returns on their savings.... More

Report finds less misuse of painkillers by teenagers
A new federal report suggests that misuse of prescription painkillers among teenagers is decreasing, news that heartened officials who remained concerned at the steady numbers regarding marijuana and e-cigarette use. The percentage of 12th.... More

High-tech gifts don't have to be high-priced
You don't have to spend a lot of money to give a fantastic technology gift. Here are 10 products under $100 that are sure to bring a smile to the recipient, while delivering lasting performance and value. ( Careful -- you might find something.... More

Why very low interest rates may stick around
The Federal Reserve will most likely raise interest rates this week for the first time in nearly a decade. To understand what it means — and doesn’t mean — consider a previous year in which interest rates were on the rise. In 1920,.... More

Still in a crib, yet being given antipsychotics
Andrew Rios’s seizures began when he was 5 months old and only got worse. At 18 months, when an epilepsy medication resulted in violent behavior, he was prescribed the antipsychotic Risperdal, a drug typically used to treat schizophrenia and.... More

Dow Chemical and DuPont set merger and plans to split
DuPont and Dow Chemical, with more than three centuries of history between them, said on Friday they had agreed to merge, in one of the biggest deals of the year. The combined company, which would be known as DowDuPont, would result from an.... More

Chasing a climate deal in Paris
LE BOURGET, France – Thursday night’s draft text of a new climate change accord skates on the edge of historical significance, and we won’t see the next version of it until Saturday. As I wrote earlier tonight, the ultimate measure of.... More

As aging population grows, so do robotic health aides
SAN FRANCISCO — The ranks of older and frail adults are growing rapidly in the developed world, raising alarms about how society is going to help them take care of themselves in their own homes. Naira Hovakimyan has an idea: drones.
The.... More

FDA says sugar total should be less than a coke's worth
Health experts have been nudging Americans to kick the sugar habit for years, and now it’s official: The Food and Drug Administration is recommending a daily cap on sugar for the first time. The goal is for Americans to limit added sugar to.... More

Yale college dean torn by racial protests
NEW HAVEN — His cellphone started humming at 11:20 p.m. on Thursday. An urgent voice jolted Jonathan Holloway from his slumber. Students protesting against racism on campus were streaming toward the home of the university’s president, the.... More

IBM's design-centered strategy to set free the squares
Phil Gilbert is a tall man with a shaved head and wire-rimmed glasses. He typically wears cowboy boots and bluejeans to work — hardly unusual these days, except he’s an executive at IBM, a company that still has a button-down suit-and-tie.... More

Seattle puts mandatory sick time to healthy test
SEATTLE – At restaurants and coffee shops, construction sites and tourist-packed fish markets, the workers and business owners of this city are testing a future that some Minneapolis leaders envision here. Nearly all Seattle workers are now.... More

The SAD epidemic
In a 1981, a researcher at the National Institutes of Mental Health put out a call looking for people suffering from depression that emerged in the fall as the days got shorter, cooler and gloomier. Norman Rosenthal was studying the effect of.... More

Bridging opportunity gap, one turnaround at a time
Ronnie Baker and Willie Minor have turned it around in recent years. The men have taken control of their lives through attitude improvement, training and employment, and bettered their families. And, in their own way, they are addressing the.... More

Should you treat muscle pain with ice or heat?
Q. What determines whether one should use heat or ice to treat muscle or joint pain?
A. Cold therapy, or cryotherapy, is usually recommended in the immediate aftermath of an acute injury, like a severe bruise or sprain, not mere soreness. The.... More

Prisons and jails put transgender inmates at risk
During the many months she spent in immigration detention centers and a county jail, Estrella Sánchez, who is seeking asylum, became used to mockery from guards, taunts from fellow inmates and a deep sense of isolation. Ms. Sánchez, a.... More

15 companies' profits exceed wildest dreams
Investors have a very good picture of how companies' profits shaped up during the third quarter. It's just that some were much prettier than others.
There are 15 companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index, including real-estate firm Prologis.... More

Invest in your human capital
As a young adult, your developing skills, education and sociability determine your ability to earn an income. Here's how. First, recognize that your human capital represents the present value of all your future wages.
It matters most for Gen.... More

Online personal shopping services are exploding
What if you could celebrate your birthday every month? More and more, shoppers are coming home to find the glee that comes from opening a box full of surprises, thanks to subscription-based personal shopping services. Personal shoppers have.... More

Does exercise slow the aging process?
Almost any amount and type of physical activity may slow aging deep within our cells, a new study finds. And middle age may be a critical time to get the process rolling, at least by one common measure of cell aging.
Dating a cell’s age is.... More

Rough student arrest puts spotlight on school police
A deputy’s rough takedown and arrest of an uncooperative 16-year-old girl in a high school classroom adds fuel to a debate over the proliferation and proper role of the police in schools, where officers are often called on to deal with.... More

Drug-makers sidestep barriers on pricing
The pain reliever Duexis is a combination of two old drugs, the generic equivalents of Motrin and Pepcid. If prescribed separately, the two drugs together would cost no more than $20 or $40 a month. By contrast, Duexis, which contains both in a.... More

Talk therapy found to ease schizophrenia
More than two million people in the United States have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and the treatment for most of them mainly involves strong doses of antipsychotic drugs that blunt hallucinations and delusions but can come with unbearable.... More

WeWork ends combative dispute with janitorial workers
WeWork, a New York start-up valued at $10 billion with the mission “to create a world where people work to make a life, not just a living,” is seeking to put a contentious labor dispute behind it. On Tuesday, WeWork, which offers temporary.... More

Where have all the tomboys gone?
Last year Zest Books and Houghton Mifflin published “Tomboy,” a graphic memoir for young adults by Liz Prince, 33, about her experience growing up preferring rough-and-tumble games and the jeans and sweatshirts that enable them. “If.... More

Compulsive texting takes toll on teenagers
Teenagers use text messaging more than any other mode of communication, so it may be hard to tell. But youngsters who check their phones continually, snap if you interrupt them and are so preoccupied with texting that they skip sleep and.... More

New worry for home buyers: a party house next door
AUSTIN, TEX. — The houses are often among the nicest on the block, or at least the biggest. They may be new construction where a smaller structure once stood, or an extensively renovated home with cheery paint in shades of yellow or blue. But.... More

Does Pre-K make any difference?
Does preschool work? Although early education has been widely praised as the magic bullet that can transport poor kids into the education mainstream, a major new study raises serious doubts. Since 2004, Tennessee has offered state-subsidized.... More

A culture of silence on sex assault
Women undergraduates are more than four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than men while in college, but are less likely to believe they’ll be taken seriously if they report an assault. On Monday, the Association of American.... More

A culture of silence on sex assault
Women undergraduates are more than four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than men while in college, but are less likely to believe they’ll be taken seriously if they report an assault. On Monday, the Association of American.... More

iPhone's hands-free Siri is omen of the future
The headline feature in Apple’s latest smartphones, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, is something called 3D Touch, which lets you activate shortcuts on the phone by pressing a bit harder on the screen. For now, though, I found a less novel, but far.... More

Who is likely to find true love on the job?
You’ve probably heard of the big dating sites like OKCupid, Match.com and Tindr. But unless you are a love-hungry lawyer, teacher or farmer, you may not be aware of smaller dating websites that aim to fix up people of a similar profession..... More

A sprained ankle may have lifelong consequences
Tens of thousands of Americans sprain an ankle every year. But ankle sprains get little respect, with most of us shrugging off the injury as inconsequential and soon returning to normal activities. Several new studies in people and animals,.... More

Defiant pledge fought back during hazing, report says
POCONO SUMMIT, Pa. — The fraternity brothers decided that Chun Hsien Deng had a bad attitude. Like three other Pi Delta Psi fraternity pledges who went before him on a cold December morning in 2013, Mr. Deng was forced to run across a frozen.... More

Body image impacts youth weight gain
Self-perception among overweight girls can affect their weight gain over time, according to a new University of Minnesota study — but not necessarily in the way some scientists thought. While one school of thought surmised that overweight.... More

Attitudes shift on paid leave: dads sue too
WASHINGTON — For decades, women who believed their employers had punished them with lower wages and missed promotions after they had become mothers have been filing gender discrimination complaints and bringing lawsuits. More

Bones in South African cave reveal new human species
MAGALIESBURG, South Africa — Scientists say they've discovered a new member of the human family tree, revealed by a huge trove of bones in a barely accessible, pitch-dark chamber of a cave in South Africa. The creature shows a surprising mix.... More

Fires in the West have residents gasping
FRESNO, Calif. — The air in the San Joaquin Valley hangs thick with gray-brown dust, a result of the state’s largest fire, which has burned through more than 160 square miles in the nearby hills. The fire has so far spared lives and homes..... More

Apple aims higher with upgraded Apple TV
SAN FRANCISCO – Apple is finally getting serious about pushing into our living rooms. That ambition will be underlined at an Apple event in San Francisco on Wednesday, when the company plans to unveil an upgraded Apple TV, a device similar to.... More

Ousted as gay, aging veterans battle again
COLUMBUS, Ohio — When the Army discharged Pvt. Donald Hallman in 1955 for being what it called a “Class II homosexual,” the 21-year-old was so scared of being an outcast that he burned all his military records, save for a single dog tag.... More

Friends at work? Not so much
ONCE, work was a major source of friendships. We took our families to company picnics and invited our colleagues over for dinner. Now, work is a more transactional place. We go to the office to be efficient, not to form bonds. We have plenty of.... More

Maiden names are making a comeback
When Donna Suh married last fall, she decided to keep her last name. “I’m Asian and he’s not, so it’s less confusing for me to not have a white name,” she said. “And on social media I thought it might be harder to find me” with a.... More

The right response to youth concussions
As the number of youngsters who participate in organized sports grows and reports of concussions rise, it’s vital for parents, athletes and coaches to know how these injuries are properly diagnosed and treated to avoid long-lasting.... More

As his term wanes, Obama restores workers' rights
WASHINGTON — With little fanfare, the Obama administration has been pursuing an aggressive campaign to restore protections for workers that have been eroded by business activism, conservative governance and the evolution of the economy in.... More

Mayo Clinic doctor has your prescription for happiness
A doctor at Rochester’s Mayo Clinic believes that he has the prescription for happiness. He isn’t arguing that we can buy happiness, but that we can achieve it. We can train our brains to feel less stressed and increase our inner bliss,.... More

For athletes, the risk of too much water
Are we, with the best of intentions, putting young athletes at risk when we urge them to drink lots of fluids during steamy sports practices and games?
A new report about overhydration in sports suggests that under certain circumstances the.... More

Suicide on campus and the pressure of perfection
Kathryn DeWitt conquered high school like a gold-medal decathlete. She ran track, represented her school at a statewide girls’ leadership program and took eight Advanced Placement tests, including one for which she independently prepared,.... More

Square root of kids' math anxiety: their parents' help
A common impairment with lifelong consequences turns out to be highly contagious between parent and child, a new study shows. The impairment? Math anxiety. Means of transmission? Homework help. Children of highly math-anxious parents learned.... More

Wider reach is sought for new hepatitis c treatments
WASHINGTON — Federal and state Medicaid officials should widen access to prescription drugs that could cure tens of thousands of people with hepatitis C, including medications that can cost up to $1,000 a pill, health care experts have told.... More

A racial gap in attitudes about hospice care
BUFFALO — Twice already, Narseary and Vernal Harris have watched a son die. The first time — Paul, at 26 — was agonizing and frenzied, his body tethered to a machine meant to keep him alive as his sickle cell disease progressed. When the.... More

School suspensions lead to legal challenge
CHOCOWINITY, N.C. — As school let out one day in January 2008, students from rival towns faced off. Two girls flailed away for several seconds and clusters of boys pummeled each other until teachers pulled them apart. The fistfights at.... More

Study links stroke risk and length of workweek
People who work 55 hours or more per week have a 33 percent greater risk of stroke and a 13 percent greater risk of coronary heart disease than those working standard hours, researchers reported on Wednesday in the Lancet. The new analysis.... More

Book ban in Venice invites a gay rights battle
VENICE — As subversive books go, many of the 49 children’s tales hardly seem seditious. There is the story of the male dog who aspired to be a ballerina. The one about the little boy who wanted to be a princess, and a princess who wanted to.... More

Poll finds most back healthy school meals
A majority of Americans support providing schoolchildren with healthy meals that consist of more fruits and vegetables and fewer foods high in calories and sodium, according to a national poll released on Tuesday by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.... More

F.D.A. approves Addyi, a libido pill for women
The first prescription drug to enhance women’s sexual drive won regulatory approval on Tuesday, clinching a victory for a lobbying campaign that had accused the Food and Drug Administration of gender bias for ignoring the sexual needs of.... More

Airbnb horror story points to need for precautions
Early in the evening of July 4, Micaela Giles’s mobile phone started sounding alerts, and a series of messages straight out of a horror movie began scrolling down her screen. Her 19-year-old son told her that his Airbnb host in Madrid had.... More

What a $15 minimum wage would mean for your city
As the campaign for a $15 minimum wage has gained strength this year, even supporters of large minimum-wage increases have wondered how high the wage floor can rise before it reduces employment and hurts the economy. The recent recommendation.... More

Fear that debate could hurt G.O.P. in women's eyes
After Senator Marco Rubio of Florida insisted at the Republican presidential debate that rape and incest victims should carry pregnancies to term, aides to Hillary Rodham Clinton could barely contain their delight at his unyielding stance,.... More

Paid leave for fathers. Any takers?
This week, two companies joined in an unfolding race to provide ever more generous paid parental leave. Netflix said it planned to offer unlimited leave in the first year after a child’s arrival to many (though not all) of its employees,.... More

Racial attitudes shift in U.S.
WASHINGTON – After a year of high-profile police shootings of black Americans, many captured on video, racial attitudes among Americans — particularly whites — have undergone a significant shift. A majority of whites now say the country.... More

For PTSD, key might be inner peace
Meditation and mindfulness exercises proved more successful than standard group therapy in treating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center — a finding that could reshape the.... More

Netflix offers expanded maternity and paternity leave
Netflix announced on Tuesday that it was starting an unlimited leave policy for new mothers and fathers for the first year after the birth or adoption of a child. As part of the new maternity and paternity policy, employees will receive their.... More

Campus suicide and the pressure of perfection
Kathryn DeWitt conquered high school like a gold-medal decathlete. She ran track, represented her school at a statewide girls’ leadership program and took eight Advanced Placement tests, including one for which she independently prepared,.... More

A better treatment for Alzheimer's: exercise
Exercise can prevent Alzheimer's disease, and now research shows it works as a great therapy, as well. Vigorous exercise not only makes Alzheimer's patients feel better, but it makes changes in the brain that could indicate improvements,.... More

Costly to treat, Hepatitis C gains quietly in the U.S.
EDGEWOOD, Ky. — Zach Wayman says he first contracted hepatitis C several years ago by sharing needles with other heroin addicts. He went into rehab and was successfully treated for the virus. But he relapsed into addiction and reinfected.... More

Poll finds most in U.S. hold dim view of race relations
Seven years ago, in the gauzy afterglow of a stirring election night in Chicago, commentators dared ask whether the United States had finally begun to heal its divisions over race and atone for the original sin of slavery by electing its first.... More

Poll finds most in U.S. hold dim view of race relations
Seven years ago, in the gauzy afterglow of a stirring election night in Chicago, commentators dared ask whether the United States had finally begun to heal its divisions over race and atone for the original sin of slavery by electing its first.... More

Push to lift hourly wage is now serious business
It started in New York City as what seemed a quixotic drive confined to fast-food workers. But the movement to raise the hourly minimum wage took root in other parts of the country, and is emerging as a significant, and divisive, element in the.... More

Republicans setting sights on same-sex marriage law
WASHINGTON — Days after a showdown over the Confederate battle flag, House Republicans are barreling toward a new confrontation on another contentious issue: How should Congress respond to the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex.... More

U.S. agency rules for gays in workplace discrimination
WASHINGTON — The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled that workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is illegal under federal law, setting the stage for litigation aimed at striking down such.... More

Planned Parenthood chief apologizes for video
WASHINGTON — The president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Cecile Richards, apologized Thursday for what she called the lack of compassion shown by a staff member who was secretly recorded describing how affiliates provide.... More

Lives grow longer and health care challenges change
If you’re living with multiple ailments, you’re not alone. According to an analysis published last month in the British medical journal The Lancet, 2.3 billion people, almost one-third of humanity, suffered from five or more health problems.... More

Senate approves a bill to revamp "No Child Left Behind"
WASHINGTON — For the first time in 14 years, the Senate on Thursday approved a revised version of No Child Left Behind, the signature Bush-era education law that ushered in an era of broadly reviled, high-stakes standardized testing. But the.... More

HIPPA privacy law is often misunderstood
How do people use, misuse or abuse Hipaa, the federal regulations protecting patients’ confidential health information? Let us count the ways:
Last month, in a continuing care retirement community in Ithaca, N.Y., Helen Wyvill, 72, noticed.... More

At Zappos, pushing shoes and a vision
On a sizzling June morning in Las Vegas, 10 Zappos.com employees sat in an air-conditioned conference room decorated with “Star Wars” memorabilia and a mural of Darth Vader. They had gathered for a weekly meeting to discuss new internal.... More

M.B.A. programs that get you where you want to go
With some 13,000 graduate schools of business across the globe, the M.B.A. degree has clearly become a commodity. Even among elite schools, courses and case studies are pretty much water from the same well (i.e., finance, operations, marketing,.... More

Heading ban for youth soccer won't end injuries
Would soccer be safer if young players were not allowed to head the ball?
According to a new study of heading and concussions in youth soccer, the answer to that question is not the simple yes that many of us might have hoped. Soccer parents.... More

Specialty pharmacies proliferate, along with questions
SINKING SPRING, Pa. — As the end of each month nears, Megan Short frets. Her 1-year-old daughter, Willow, cannot afford to miss even a single dose of a drug she takes daily to prevent her body from rejecting her transplanted heart. Because of.... More

Why investing is so complicated, and how to simplify it
I finally faced up to something I had been dreading. After years of procrastinating, I logged on to my retirement account. Just working my way through the rigmarole of retrieving lost passwords and locating my investments was bad enough. But once I started to examine my portfolio, I began to feel.... More

Some find nuance in a bigoted Atticus Finch
With all the debate brewing over the origins of Harper Lee’s novel “Go Set a Watchman,” the biggest bombshell turned out to be an explosive plot twist that no one saw coming. Atticus Finch — the crusading lawyer of “To Kill a.... More

Evolution of coral could help keep warming threat away
Warming ocean waters due to climate change have been ravaging coral reefs over the past few decades, but researchers have discovered that, with the help of some breeding, the threat may be kept at bay. Some corals already have the genes needed.... More

In health law, a boon for diet clinics
Dr. Michael Kaplan looked across his desk at a woman who had sought out his Long Island Weight Loss Institute and asked the question he often poses to new patients: “Where do you think you go wrong with food?” The 38-year-old patient was.... More

Health insurance companies seek big raises for 2016
WASHINGTON — Health insurance companies around the country are seeking rate increases of 20 percent to 40 percent or more, saying their new customers under the Affordable Care Act turned out to be sicker than expected. Federal officials say.... More

U.S. economy adds 223,000 jobs; unemployment at 5.3%
The American economy entered the summer powered by a decent head of steam, as employers added 223,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent. After bottoming out in March as the overall economy stalled, hiring has rebounded.... More

Exxon lumbers along to catch up with gay rights
A day after the United States Supreme Court affirmed same-sex marriage as a right, more than 125 Exxon Mobil employees marched in the Houston L.G.B.T. Pride Celebration for the first time. They carried an Exxon banner and wore rainbow-hued.... More

Older athletes have a strikingly young fitness age
Older athletes can be much younger, physically, than they are in real life, according to a new study of participants in the coming Senior Olympics. The study found that the athletes’ fitness age is typically 20 years or more younger than.... More

Birth month has connection to disease
For much of history, astronomy and astrology were a big part of medicine. Nearly 2,500 years ago, Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, observed a connection between the movements of the stars and disease, writing that “the.... More

Supreme Court will reconsider affirmative action case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to take a second look at a challenge to the use of race in admissions decisions by the University of Texas at Austin, reviving a potent challenge to affirmative action in higher education. When.... More

Supreme Court hands Obama second major health care win
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the nationwide tax subsidies under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, in a ruling that preserves health insurance for millions of Americans. The justices said in a 6-3 ruling that the subsidies.... More

New momentum on paid leave
Oregon this month became the fourth state to pass a bill requiring that companies give workers paid sick days to care for themselves or family members. Chipotle said this month that it would begin offering hourly workers paid sick days and.... More

Blood pressure, the mystery number
Almost half a century after rigorous studies showed medicines that lower blood pressure prevent heart attacks, strokes and deaths, researchers still do not know just how low blood pressure should go. More than 58 million Americans take these.... More

Fidgeting may benefit children with A.D.H.D.
Instead of telling children with hyperactivity and attention problems to sit still, perhaps we should encourage them to wriggle at will, according to a new study of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or A.D.H.D. The study,.... More

Medical insurance is good for financial health, too
People who have health insurance have less health-related financial stress. That’s a not-so surprising finding from a recent survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There’s good reason to expect the Affordable Care Act.... More

Seeking efficient paths to slimmer children
Pardon the cliché, but it happens to be particularly apt in this case: In trying to tame the nation’s obesity epidemic, an ounce of prevention is decidedly worth a pound of cure — considerably more than a pound, in fact, according to the.... More

Justice's tolerance seen in his Sacramento roots
SACRAMENTO — In the fall of 1987, a package arrived on the desk of Laurence H. Tribe, a Harvard law professor who had just lost a Supreme Court case on gay rights. It contained the legal opinions of Anthony M. Kennedy, a strait-laced,.... More

Wait lists grow as more vets seek care
One year after outrage about long waiting lists for health care shook the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency is facing a new crisis: The number of veterans on waiting lists of one month or more is now 50 percent higher than it was.... More

The cost of letting young people drift
President Obama spotlighted a national crisis last year when he launched My Brother’s Keeper, an initiative that encourages communities, nonprofits and the private sector to focus on ways to improve the lives of some of the nation’s most.... More

Building a better valve
With his smooth, fleshy face and twinkly eyes, Herbert Auspitz, 93, had an air of vigor, but he was fading fast. He had a fatal disease with a prognosis worse than that of most cancers: severe aortic valve stenosis. It is a narrowing of the.... More

Tough tests for teachers, with questions of bias
Students are not the only ones struggling to pass new standardized tests being rolled out around the country. So are those who want to be teachers. Concerned that education schools were turning out too many middling graduates, states have been.... More

To cut teen smoking, raise tobacco sales age
A new study has found a simple way to significantly reduce teenage smoking: raise the tobacco sales age to 21. In 2005, Needham, Mass., did just that, while surrounding communities kept their age limit at 18. Researchers surveyed 16,000 high.... More

Science weighs in on high heels
Many commentators have pointed out that the new movie “Jurassic World” is scientifically suspect, if not fantastical. But they have overlooked one of the more prominent ways in which the blockbuster diverges from established research. The.... More

How Rachel Dolezal came to identify as black
SPOKANE, Wash. — When she moved into her uncle’s basement in the largely white town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in 2004, Rachel A. Dolezal was still blond and pale-skinned and identified herself as a white woman — one who had left a black.... More

In turnabout, Disney cancels tech worker layoffs
In late May, about 35 technology employees at Disney/ABC Television in New York and Burbank, Calif., received jarring news. Managers told them that they would all be laid off, and that during their final weeks they would have to train.... More

Target selling its pharmacies to CVS for $1.9 billion
Target Corp.'s 1,660 pharmacies and 80 clinics inside its stores are being acquired by CVS Health Corp. in a $1.9 billion deal. Those pharmacies and clinics will be rebranded and operated by CVS, the companies announced this morning. The.... More

Virtual reality headsets raise very real concerns
Every Friday, a dozen or so people strap on virtual reality headsets, log on to the Internet and do something that would normally require driving to a local multiplex: watch a movie with a bunch of strangers. Their avatars all sit in the seats.... More

America's seniors find middle class 'sweet spot'
WAXAHACHIE, Tex. — Most Americans suffered serious losses during and after the recession, knocked off balance by layoffs, stagnant pay and the collapse of home values. But apart from the superrich, one group’s fortunes appear to have held.... More

How Randi Zuckerberg finally found work-life balance
The phrase "work-life balance" is surprisingly controversial, sparking heated debates among dedicated employees, hard-working parents and people who fall into both camps. Is it a goal worth striving for, an unrealistic and unattainable idea, or.... More

The ergonomic sofa
You’ve found a home that suits you in terms of price, location and design, and you’ve decorated it in a style that reflects your personal aesthetic. All should be good, right? Well, not if your furniture is a pain in the neck, back, hips or.... More

When family-friendly policies backfire
In Chile, a law requires employers to provide working mothers with child care. One result? Women are paid less. In Spain, a policy to give parents of young children the right to work part-time has led to a decline in full-time, stable jobs.... More

Maligned study on gay unions is shaking trust
He was a graduate student who seemingly had it all: drive, a big idea and the financial backing to pay for a sprawling study to test it. In 2012, as same-sex marriage advocates were working to build support in California, Michael LaCour, a.... More

Four cancer charities accused of fraud
There were subscriptions to dating websites, meals at Hooters and purchases at Victoria’s Secret — not to mention jet ski joy rides and couples’ cruises to the Caribbean. All of it was paid for with the nearly $200 million donated to.... More

Los Angeles lifts its minimum wage to $15 per hour
LOS ANGELES — The nation’s second-largest city voted Tuesday to increase its minimum wage from $9 an hour to $15 an hour by 2020, in what is perhaps the most significant victory so far for labor groups and their allies who are engaged in a.... More

Lack of exercise can disrupt the body's rhythms
Exercise may affect how and when we move, even when we aren’t exercising, according to a fascinating new study in mice. The findings suggest that, by influencing our built-in body clocks, exercise may help our bodies to recognize the optimal.... More

Utah pegged as sweet tooth capital of the U.S.
A push by Hershey Co. to gather data on the nation’s candy-eating habits has uncovered the sweet-tooth capital of America: Utah. The state buys confections at the highest rate in the nation, almost double the U.S. average, Hershey researchers.... More

Dairy Queen to remove soda pop from kids' menu
Dairy Queen is removing soda pop from its kids’ menu, bowing to pressure from interest groups and following similar steps at other fast-food chains. The change will be made at all of its approximately 4,300 franchise locations by Sept. 1, the.... More

For the love of animals
Linda and Gary Childs go almost everywhere with their “little girl.” The retirees, from West Boylston, Mass., love to parade 3-year-old Chino down busy streets in her stroller. They take her to restaurants dressed in her fur-lined vest or.... More

The importance of getting sick in the right place
An unholy racket was coming from our clinic waiting room. It is never what you would call serene out there, but this degree of noise immediately penetrated everyone’s primal brain: Something was definitely wrong. Staff members ran toward the.... More

Some schools embrace demands for education data
MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — In this small suburb outside Milwaukee, no one in the Menomonee Falls School District escapes the rigorous demands of data. Custodians monitor dirt under bathroom sinks, while the high school cafeteria supervisor.... More

What your cat is telling you with its blinking
LOS ANGELES – When it comes to cats, those meows mean … well, a lot of things. With each purr, yowl or even blink, felines are saying, “Hello,” “Let’s snuggle” or “Beat it, Mom.” For the increasing number of pet owners who.... More

How to eat healthy meals at restaurants
Most meals at American restaurants aren’t healthy. They’re packed with processed food and enough calories to cover two or three sensible meals.
Yet it’s entirely possible to eat both healthy and tasty restaurant meals. And because eating.... More

States put up flurry of roadblocks to abortion
MIAMI — Oklahoma’s governor this week approved a law extending to 72 hours the mandatory waiting period before a woman can have an abortion. Here in Florida, lawmakers enacted a 24-hour waiting period that requires two separate appointments.... More

Premature babies may survive at 22 weeks if treated
A new study of thousands of premature births found that a small minority of babies born a week or two before what is now generally considered the point of viability can be treated and survive, in some cases with relatively few health problems..... More

U.S. airports are better, but not best
As major airports around the world scramble to brand themselves as luxury entities rather than mere transportation centers, some have adopted a star-ranking system, like hotels. It was inevitable. Munich Airport, calling itself “Bavaria’s.... More

Apple watch: a test-run for travelers
Should Apple Watch, the latest smartwatch to hit the streets, be as much a part of your travels as your passport and toothbrush? The Internet is awash in reviews for technophiles but not travelers. And so I donned a stainless steel model and.... More

Air ambulances offer a lifeline, then a sky-high bill
Clarence W. Kendall, a rancher in Pearce, Ariz., was moving bales on top of a haystack when he fell eight feet and struck his head on the corner of a truck below. His health insurance covered most of the cost of treating the head trauma caused.... More

With rescue near, Boko Haram stones girls to death
YOLA, Nigeria — Even with the crackle of gunfire signaling rescuers were near, the horrors did not end: Boko Haram fighters stoned captives to death, some girls and women were crushed by an armored car and three died when a land mine exploded.... More

How doing nothing became the ultimate family vacation
Before having a child, my wife and I had always prided ourselves on being travelers and not tourists. We liked out-of-the-way places; my research often took us to absurd locations like the Democratic Republic of Congo near rebel-held territory.... More

Six officers charged in Freddie Gray's death
BALTIMORE — Baltimore’s chief prosecutor charged six police officers on Friday with a range of crimes including murder and manslaughter in the arrest and fatal injury of Freddie Gray, a striking and surprisingly swift turn in a case that.... More

Hospitals provide a pulse in struggling rural towns
BEATRICE, Neb. — “This real estate to be auctioned,” reads a banner stretched across the abandoned warehouse of a store-shelving manufacturer that once employed generations living in and around this town of about 12,000. This isolated.... More

Want a steady income? There's an app for that
Heather Jacobs, a chain-­spa masseuse in Simi Valley, Calif., never knows how much money is coming her way. When her spa charges $99 for a 55-­minute massage, she makes $18. But if she books just two massages in a six-­hour workday, the spa.... More

Nepal villages wait for aid as death toll passes 4,000
SAURPANI, Nepal — Five hours by car from Katmandu, then by foot for several miles past the spot where the road is blocked by boulders and mud, people from the villages near the epicenter of Nepal’s powerful earthquake are burying their dead.... More

Justices to hear arguments on same-sex marriage
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments on whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. The session, scheduled to last two and a half hours, is the last public step before a decision, expected in June,.... More

Chipotle to stop serving genetically altered food
In a first for a major restaurant chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill on Monday will begin serving only food that is free of genetically engineered ingredients. “This is another step toward the visions we have of changing the way people think.... More

Small business: Visa quotas hinder finding skilled help
Some small business owners say government quotas are keeping them from finding the highly skilled help they need. H-1B visas allow foreigners with college degrees to work in the U.S. for up to six years. There’s such high demand for employees.... More

Lawyers seek sea change on gay rights at Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — In the months leading up to Tuesday’s Supreme Court arguments on same-sex marriage, teams of gay rights lawyers and their allies have held countless strategy sessions, drafted scores of briefs and participated in intense moot.... More

College for the masses
Growing up in the '90s, Carlos Escanilla was a lot more interested in hanging out with friends and playing music than in school. The son of immigrants from Chile, he slogged through high school with a C+ average and scored about 900 out of 1.... More

Surge in hospital visits linked to a drug called spice
A sharp rise in visits to emergency rooms and calls to poison control centers nationwide has some health officials fearing that more potent and dangerous variations of a popular drug known as spice have reached the nation’s streets, resulting.... More

Target's hasty exit from Canada leaves anger behind
TORONTO — Target’s exodus from Canada has left gaping holes at some of the most prominent shopping centers across the country, the biggest symbol of an exceptional period of retailing turmoil. As Target Canada closed the last of its 133.... More

New genetic tests for breast cancer hold promise
A Silicon Valley start-up with some big-name backers is threatening to upend genetic screening for breast and ovarian cancer by offering a test on a sample of saliva that is so inexpensive that most women could get it. At the same time, the.... More

Service members are left in the dark on health errors
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Lt. Col. Chad Gallagher was T. J. Moore’s squadron leader when the 19-year-old recruit arrived for basic training last spring at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. He was watching at the quarter-mile track nine days.... More

Skip child support. Go to jail. Lose job. Repeat
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — By his own telling, the first time Walter L. Scott went to jail for failure to pay child support, it sent his life into a tailspin. He lost what he called “the best job I ever had” when he spent two weeks in jail..... More

Study of laughter is no joke
Why do we laugh? The obvious answer is that something is funny. But if we look closer at when and how laughter occurs in social situations, we see that it’s not so simple. Depending on the context, laughter can mean all sorts of things,.... More

Nationwide protest on pay poses a test
The protest by tens of thousands of low-wage workers, students and activists in more than 200 American cities on Wednesday is the most striking effort to date in a two-and-a-half-year-old labor-backed movement that is testing the ability of.... More

They're not afraid to say it: 'Fat Yoga'
The telemarketers and bottled-water vendors who call Anna Ipox’s yoga studio in Portland, Ore., often ask, “Is this the yoga place?” Ms. Ipox does not answer yes. Instead, she said, “I make them say it: Say, ‘Is this Fat Yoga?’.... More

Should students sit on sexual assault panels?
It was a bland bit of guidance from the Department of Education, cast in legal language and tucked into a footnote two-thirds of the way through a 46-page document about how colleges and universities should address sexual assault on campus. But.... More

When work and sleep conflict, work wins
There are a lot of advantages to earning more money but getting a good night's sleep may not be one of them. It turns out that, in general, the more money people make, the less they sleep. That’s been true for decades in the United States,.... More

For mentally ill inmates, a cycle of jail and hospitals
It was not a particularly violent crime that sent Michael Megginson to Rikers Island. He was arrested for stealing a cellphone. But in jail, Mr. Megginson, who is 25 and has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals since the age of 6, quickly.... More

Johns Hopkins begins using high-tech equipment on pets
Unconscious and with furry yellow paws in the air, Otter was guided into the MRI machine. The 4-year-old Lab had been having increasingly severe episodes of back pain over months and a neurosurgeon wanted to confirm his suspicions about the.... More

Why a UVA potential lawsuit could succeed
In the wake of a damning report detailing the journalistic failures of Rolling Stone on a story that claimed fraternity members brutally gang raped a University of Virginia student, the fraternity's campus chapter announced it plans to pursue.... More

Focusing the brain on better vision
As adults age, vision deteriorates. One common type of decline is in contrast sensitivity, the ability to distinguish gradations of light to dark, making it possible to discern where one object ends and another begins. When an older adult.... More

Even for New York's Mayor, college costs are a burden.
He lives rent-free in an Upper East Side mansion, owns two homes in a prime Brooklyn neighborhood and earns a six-figure salary supervising hundreds of thousands of employees. But Mayor Bill de Blasio is now facing a hurdle familiar to many of.... More

New prize rewards economic diversity at colleges
Top colleges have many reasons to avoid enrolling a lot of low-income students. The students need financial aid, which can strain a university’s budget. Although many of the students have stellar grades, they often have somewhat lower SAT.... More

M.B.A. programs that get you where you want to go
With some 13,000 graduate schools of business across the globe, the M.B.A. degree has clearly become a commodity. Even among elite schools, courses and case studies are pretty much water from the same well (i.e., finance, operations, marketing,.... More

Small employers drop health insurance at faster clip
In 25 years running a flower shop, Steve McCulloch always felt like he should provide health insurance to his employees. But finding affordable coverage was a struggle, and ultimately forced McCulloch to make a tough decision in late 2013..... More

Gay marriage state by state: a trickle became a torrent
The Supreme Court is expected to decide this summer whether all 50 states must allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. If the court decides to allow such unions, then the 13 states where same-sex marriage is still prohibited will be forced to.... More

Private eyes in the grocery aisles
Mansour Samadpour makes his way through the supermarket like a detective working a crime scene, slow, watchful, up one aisle and down the next. A clerk mistakenly assumes that he needs help, but Mr. Samadpour brushes him off. He knows exactly.... More

Internships abroad, unpaid, with a $10,000 price tag
Picture this: A summer behind the scenes at the Edinburgh Art Festival, helping set up a show and banquet, managing a guest list and communicating with artists and agents, plus an excursion to London and a tour of a Scotch distillery and.... More

Statins and your sex life
The science on statins and sexual function is inconclusive, but it does appear that taking a statin may sometimes affect a person’s sex life.
On the plus side, some men report improved erections when their high cholesterol was treated with.... More

How to feed a family of four for less than $7
Feeding your family a good meal is easy. Just go to the grocery store and empty out your pocketbook. But what if you aren’t so flush? What if your wallet is looking a little lean? What if times are hard and money is short?Everybody has to eat.... More

South Dakota speed limits rise to 80 mph.
The drive to Mount Rushmore can go a little faster now. South Dakota became the latest state to raise the speed limit Wednesday, allowing interstate drivers to travel up to 80 miles per hour. States across the country have been raising their.... More

Walmart emerges as unlikely social force
Walmart, which has deployed its financial might to squeeze extra gallons of gas out of its trucks and shave pennies off the price of laundry detergent, did something unexpected this week: It muscled its way into a divisive social debate. In an.... More

Atlanta educators convicted in school cheating scandal
ATLANTA — In a dramatic conclusion to what has been described as the largest cheating scandal in the nation’s history, a jury here on Wednesday convicted 11 educators for their roles in a standardized test cheating scandal that tarnished a.... More

Female-run venture capital firms alter the status quo
Step into the offices on Sand Hill Road, the heart of Silicon Valley venture capital, and one thing is immediately striking — the almost all-male cast of leading characters. But there is another corner of the venture capital industry that.... More

Female-run venture capital firms alter the status quo
Step into the offices on Sand Hill Road, the heart of Silicon Valley venture capital, and one thing is immediately striking — the almost all-male cast of leading characters. But there is another corner of the venture capital industry that.... More

Obama's strategy on climate change, part of global deal, is revealed
WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday introduced President Obama’s blueprint for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by nearly a third over the next decade. Mr. Obama’s plan, part of a formal written submission to the United Nations ahead of efforts to forge a global climate.... More

Income inequality may be bad for your health
We know that living in a poor community makes you less likely to live a long life. New evidence suggests that living in a community with high income inequality also seems to be bad for your health. A study from researchers at the University of.... More

Foreclosure to home free, as five-year clock expires
MIAMI — In September, Susan Rodolfi celebrated an unusual anniversary: five years of missed mortgage payments. She is like a ghost of the housing market’s painful past, one of thousands of Americans who have skipped years of mortgage.... More

Are low-salt diets good for most people?
As Americans have become more aware over the years of nutrition-related health issues, salt has emerged as a major villain in many people’s minds. So much so that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes reducing the U.S..... More

Internships abroad, unpaid, with a $10,000 price tag
Picture this: A summer behind the scenes at the Edinburgh Art Festival, helping set up a show and banquet, managing a guest list and communicating with artists and agents, plus an excursion to London and a tour of a Scotch distillery and.... More

How exercise may aid cancer treatment
In a new study involving mice, aerobic exercise slowed the growth of breast cancer tumors and made the cancer more sensitive to chemotherapy. The results raise the possibility that exercise may change the biology of some malignant tumors,.... More

For children's seizures, turning to medical marijuana
By the time Grace Brunno was 3, she was suffering 400 epileptic seizures a week. Her parents, desperate to ease her suffering, took a drastic step: They left their home in Missouri and moved to Colorado so their child could start a regimen of.... More

From Microsoft, a novel way to mandate sick leave
It is difficult to imagine, at least in the current political climate, that the federal government would require paid sick leave for workers, let alone vacation time.
But the White House announced Wednesday that senior officials, including the.... More

Bill would limit use of student data
Is the digital revolution in the classroom giving the education technology industry carte blanche to exploit student data? That was the question some teacher and parents groups have posed in their public responses to the news last week that.... More

At the box office, it's no longer a man's world
LOS ANGELES — Heading into the all-important summer moviegoing season, two converging box-office trends are startling studios: Women are driving ticket sales to a degree rarely, if ever, seen before, while young men — long Hollywood’s.... More

Test of free speech and bias, served on a Texas plate
On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to that decision in Walker v. Sons of Confederate Veterans, No. 14-144, a case that considers the limits of free expression and the meaning of a charged symbol that many associate with.... More

More teens get jobs as techies
Shot through with intricate wires and crimson light, the space-age black box is where the magic happens. It's a homemade computer assembled by teenage tech wizard Andrew Bernstein. "A couple of Korean off-brand screens and an Intel.... More

Fracking: U.S. tightens rules for disclosure
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday it is requiring companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, the first major federal regulation of the controversial.... More

Alzheimer's drug gives hope in slowing mental declines
An experimental drug for Alzheimer’s disease sharply slowed the decline in mental function in a small clinical trial, researchers reported Friday, reviving hopes for an approach to therapy that until now has experienced repeated failures.... More

Breast biopsies leave room for doubt, study says
Breast biopsies are good at telling the difference between healthy tissue and cancer, but less reliable for identifying more subtle abnormalities, a new study finds. Because of the uncertainty, women whose results fall into the gray zone.... More

Republicans propose budget with deep cuts to welfare
WASHINGTON — House Republicans called it streamlining, empowering states or “achieving sustainability.” They couched deep spending reductions in any number of gauzy euphemisms. What they would not do on Tuesday was call their budget plan,.... More

Presbyterians give final approval for same-sex marriage
After three decades of debate over its stance on homosexuality, members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted on Tuesday to change the definition of marriage in the church’s constitution to include same-sex marriage. The final approval by.... More

Federal traffic agency targets drowsy driving
Drowsy driving is an insidious threat to safety that anyone who ever stepped inside a vehicle likely has experienced or witnessed. The federal government on Monday announced new efforts to get a handle on the extent of the problem, wake up the.... More

Coke a good snack? Health experts say so
NEW YORK — Coca-Cola is working with fitness and nutrition experts who suggest its soda as a treat at a time when the world's biggest beverage maker is being blamed for helping to fuel obesity rates. In February, several of the experts wrote.... More

New class of cholesterol drugs shows promise
SAN DIEGO – New research boosts hope that a highly anticipated, experimental class of cholesterol drugs can greatly lower the risk for heart attacks, death and other heart-related problems. The government will decide this summer whether to.... More

Illinois pension law greeted with court skepticism
awyer for the state faced skeptical questioning from Illinois Supreme Court justices Wednesday as she defended a landmark pension reform law by arguing that benefit cuts to public workers were a response to a financial emergency tied to the.... More

Democrats stand by Clinton, but with some reservations
WASHINGTON — Democrats closed ranks around Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday after her public explanation of her email practices — yet party officials in important election states appeared resigned to the prospect that her all-but-certain.... More

A simple flashcard test to detect concussions
An easy, two-minute vision test administered on the sidelines after a young athlete has hit his or her head can help to reliably determine whether the athlete has sustained a concussion, according to a new study of student athletes, some as.... More

Gender gap in education cuts both ways
Why do the best-educated girls do worse at math than top-educated boys?
Concern about this deficit exploded into public consciousness 35 years ago, when researchers in the department of psychology at Johns Hopkins University published an.... More

New debate swirls around high-fat foods
Carolyn Whitson couldn’t believe what the nutritionist was telling her to eat.
Butter, mayonnaise, even steak and eggs. “I was like, ‘Oh, you’re insane. I’ll weigh 300 pounds if I do that,’?” said Whitson, 49, of St. Paul..... More

Victim speaks to athletes about violence against women
SURPRISE, Ariz. — When the main portion of her presentation on the scourge of athletes’ violence against women was over, when Kathy Redmond opened the floor to the fresh-faced players of the Kansas City Royals organization, a much older man.... More

Prosecutors target safety of herbal supplements
A group of attorneys general is expected to announce on Tuesday that they are forming a coalition to crack down on fraud and quality control issues in the herbal supplement industry. The coalition would signal a shift in the way law enforcement.... More

President Obama marks Selma civil rights milestone
America's racial history "still casts its long shadow upon us," President Barack Obama said Saturday as he stood in solidarity and remembrance with civil rights activists whose beatings by police a half-century ago galvanized much of the nation.... More

Solicitor General to try to keep health care law alive
WASHINGTON — Three years ago this month, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. stood before the Supreme Court to defend President Obama’s health care law against a constitutional challenge that threatened to destroy its central provision.... More

Justices second look at the health law: what to expect
On Wednesday morning, the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in King v. Burwell, the case that could decide the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the landmark “Obamacare” legislation passed by Congress in.... More

Barnes & Noble to spin off college bookstores unit
Barnes & Noble said on Thursday that it would spin off its college bookstores business into a separate publicly traded company, changing up its breakup plans. Originally, the retailer had planned to part with the education division as part of a.... More

Morals clause in Catholic schools roils Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — It is the issue that is stirring San Francisco: The archbishop has specified that teachers at four Bay Area Catholic high schools cannot publicly challenge the church’s teachings that homosexual acts are “contrary to.... More

Internships abroad: unpaid, with a $10,000 price tag
Picture this: A summer behind the scenes at the Edinburgh Art Festival, helping set up a show and banquet, managing a guest list and communicating with artists and agents, plus an excursion to London and a tour of a Scotch distillery and.... More

A university recognizes a third gender: neutral
Rocko Gieselman looked like any other undergraduate at the University of Vermont but perhaps a little prettier, with pale freckles dancing across porcelain skin and bright blue eyes amplifying a broad smile. Black bra straps poked out from a.... More

Is your first-grader college-ready?
What is college? To Madison Comer, a confident 6-year-old, it is a very big place. “It’s tall,” she explained, outlining the head of Tuffy, the North Carolina State mascot, with a gray crayon. “It’s like high school but it’s higher.... More

As office space shrinks, so does privacy for workers
Dafna Sarnoff worked her way up to vice president at American Express and what she remembers as “a desirable office.” Later she was hired by a financial services company — bigger salary, bigger office. Then, in 2012, she was recruited by.... More

We're sorry, applicants; we accepted you in error
Acceptance to a world-class graduate school, in a highly competitive field, offers a path to credentials that open doors throughout a career, a stamp of validation to last a lifetime. Or maybe a few hours. Carnegie Mellon University this week.... More

To jump-start your exercise routine, be mindful
By now, many of us, beset by bad weather and declining motivation, are struggling to maintain our New Year’s exercise resolutions. But a timely new study offers encouragement, suggesting that by paying more attention to the experience of.... More

Federal judge halts Obama's action on immigration
HOUSTON — A federal judge in South Texas has temporarily blocked President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration, giving a coalition of 26 states time to pursue a lawsuit that aims to permanently stop the orders.
U.S. District Judge.... More

Up to 14 years of hot flashes found in menopause study
Conventional wisdom has it that hot flashes, which afflict up to 80 percent of middle-aged women, usually persist for just a few years. But hot flashes can continue for as long as 14 years, and the earlier they begin the longer a woman is.... More

New prosthetics give children hands of a superhero
Dawson Riverman’s parents tried to help him make the best of it. Born without fingers on his left hand, Dawson struggled to perform even the simplest tasks, like tying his shoes or holding a ball. “God made you special in this way,” his.... More

In New York City, jobs come back without Wall Street
New York City has created more jobs over the past five years than during any five-year period in the last half century. But the city is not pulsing with the same boomtown swagger it radiated in past growth spurts. What’s missing? Wall Street..... More

Vaccination rates for California kindergartens
More than a quarter of schools in California have measles-immunization rates for kindergarteners that are below the 92 to 94 percent the C.D.C. says is needed to maintain so-called herd immunity. Part of this is driven by parents who have opted.... More

Falling marriage rates reveal economic fault lines
Will Valentine’s Day, always a popular moment for popping the question, see fewer marriage proposals this year than in generations past? The age-old lesson about marriage that has been communicated by parents everywhere (two are stronger than.... More

More college freshmen report having felt depressed
High numbers of students are beginning college having felt depressed and overwhelmed during the previous year, according to an annual survey released on Thursday, reinforcing some experts’ concern about the emotional health of college.... More

Internships abroad, unpaid, with a $10,000 price tag
Picture this: A summer behind the scenes at the Edinburgh Art Festival, helping set up a show and banquet, managing a guest list and communicating with artists and agents, plus an excursion to London and a tour of a Scotch distillery and.... More

Despite recalls, G.M. pays workers a big bonus
DETROIT — To cope with the gravest safety crisis in its history, General Motors has spent freely — almost $3 billion — to compensate accident victims and recall nearly 30 million vehicles. But when the company closed the books this week.... More

Piling on work to escape gap in health law
AUSTIN, Tex. — Alma Ramos, a soft-spoken prep cook at a Tex-Mex restaurant, was eager to sign up for health insurance through the new HealthCare.gov marketplace last year. But Ms. Ramos, a single mother of three, quickly hit a baffling hurdle.... More

Obama unveils initiative to tailor medical treatments
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday announced a major biomedical research initiative, including plans to collect genetic data on one million Americans so that scientists can develop drugs and treatments tailored to individual patients’.... More

Are vitamin drinks a bad idea?
Companies are increasingly adding vitamins and minerals to juices, sports drinks and bottled water, responding to a growing consumer demand for these products. Even though the amounts of added nutrients in these drinks are typically small, some.... More

Doctors as advocates for family leave
Birdlike and in his 80s, the patient had come to the hospital complaining of a new cough. But it was not he whom my colleagues and I found most disquieting. It was his middle-aged daughter. With a practiced dexterity, she had managed to wheel.... More

Vanderbilt rape convictions stir dismay and denial
NASHVILLE — The crime was horrific and the verdict stunningly swift. Two former Vanderbilt University football players are facing the possibility of decades in prison after it took a jury less than four hours to convict them for their roles.... More

States renew fight to stop same-sex marriage
COLUMBIA, S.C. — As the nation waits for the Supreme Court to decide whether same-sex marriages should be legal nationwide, another, more mundane front has opened in the wedding wars: the offices of the state and local officials who perform.... More

The operation before the operation
OSTON — The surgeon held a translucent white plastic eye socket in each hand. Gently moving them away from each other, Dr. John Meara showed the distance between Violet Pietrok’s eyes at birth. He slid the sockets closer to demonstrate.... More

Investment riches built on sub-prime loans to poor
The loans were for used Dodges, Nissans and Chevrolets, many with tens of thousands of miles on the odometer, some more than a decade old. They were also one of the hottest investments around. So many asset managers clamored for a piece of a.... More

Will a hug a day keep the doctor away?
You’ll get no argument from most people — especially on a cold winter’s night — that hugs make you feel warm inside. But can that good feeling protect your health? Increasingly, scientists are thinking that the answer is yes. Over the.... More

Salt may not affect heart risk
A new study suggests that dietary salt may have little or no effect on the risk for heart disease in older adults. The study, in JAMA Internal Medicine, included 2,642 people, average age 74. Half the participants were women, 62 percent were.... More

Objections by women open rift in G.O.P.
WASHINGTON — House Republicans struggled on Thursday to mend another unwelcome rift that threatens to tarnish their party’s image with women and younger voters, shelving a contentious bill to outlaw most abortions after 20 weeks of.... More

The best time of day to exercise to lose weight
You might try setting your wake-up alarm earlier and exercising before breakfast. There is some evidence that working out on a completely empty stomach — or, as scientists call this woozy, wee-hours condition, “in a fasted state” —.... More

Stressed at work? Try a lunchtime walk
To combat afternoon slumps in enthusiasm and focus, take a walk during the lunch hour, according to a helpful new study. It finds that even gentle lunchtime strolls can perceptibly — and immediately — buoy people’s moods and ability to.... More

Clinic offers a new way to treat children's pain
A trippy new patient room at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis is capable of producing an orange scent, or piping musical vibrations to a comfy chair, as part of the hospital’s movement away from conventional drugs and toward alternatives.... More

Gay marriage case offers G.O.P. political cover
WASHINGTON — The news Friday that the Supreme Court will rule on same-sex marriage brought elation from gays and lesbians who are hopeful the justices will grant them the constitutional protections they have long sought. But another group.... More

At Boy's Town, sharpening minds and skills
BOYS TOWN, Neb. — Juan Lopez, 17, lives in this home for wayward and neglected youths because he “got in trouble back in school, skipping and taking drugs.” Here he got the nickname Guns, because of a sudden affinity for carrying a piece.... More

The 25 best places to retire
Retirement is a new phase of life, and, for many, a chance to consider new surroundings. Here is our new list of 25 top U.S. cities for retirement. Data we sifted included housing and living costs, taxes, weather and air quality, crime rates,.... More

Taking up gay marriage, but on their own terms
WASH­ING­TON — The first page of a pe­ti­tion seek­ing Supreme Court re­view is the most im­por­tant. It sets out the “ques­tion pre­sent­ed,” the one the court will an­swer if it takes the case. The jus­tices do not.... More

Ocean life faces mass extinction, scientists say
A team of scientists, in a groundbreaking analysis of data from hundreds of sources, has concluded that humans are on the verge of causing unprecedented damage to the oceans and the animals living in them. “We may be sitting on a precipice of.... More

Least economically diverse college seeks to change
The leaders of Washington University in St. Louis have decided that it has a distinction they no longer want: the nation’s least economically diverse top college. Only 6 percent of undergraduates at Wash. U., as it’s known, receive federal.... More

Trying to solve the great wage slow-down
After almost 15 years of a disappointing economy, it’s easy to get pessimistic. Incomes for the middle class and poor have now been stagnating over a two-term Republican presidency and well into a two-term Democratic one. The great wage.... More

Tiny cokes: less guilt means more money for makers
Americans want to cut back on soda, and they're willing to pay more to do it. With people drinking less soda amid health concerns, Coke and Pepsi are pushing smaller cans and bottles that contain fewer calories and, they say, induce less guilt..... More

Study finds local taxes hit lower wage earners harder
When it comes to the taxes closest to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit. That is the conclusion of an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that evaluates the local tax burden in every state, from Washington,.... More

Three signs pointing to bigger raises in 2015
All eyes are on wages. For workers who have faced six years of stagnant pay, Federal Reserve officials trying to decide when they can safely raise interest rates, or anyone who wants the United States economy to experience a truly robust.... More

Former official vouched for accused priest
New documents released in a clergy sexual abuse lawsuit show that a former high-ranking church official intervened to help a prominent University of St. Thomas priest accused of sexual misconduct perform a wedding out of state.
The Rev..... More

After enterovirus 68 outbreak, a paralysis mystery
A nationwide outbreak of a respiratory virus last fall sent droves of children to emergency departments. The infections have now subsided, as researchers knew they would, but they have left behind a frightening mystery. Since August, 103.... More

Parents challenge President to dig deeper on ed tech
Education technology companies that have pledged not to exploit student data they collect for marketing purposes welcomed President Obama’s endorsement on Monday of the industry’s effort to limit its use of classroom data. But the.... More

Doing more for patients often does no good
Given the remarkable advances that have been made in the last 50 or so years in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and surgical procedures, it’s not a surprise that people want more, and more invasive, care than they have had in the past. Just.... More

Indoor tanning poses cancer risk, teenagers learn
TEQUESTA, Fla. — On their way home from an SAT tutoring session, the Van Dresser twins, Alexandra and Samantha, 17, popped into Tan Fever & Spa, a small family-owned salon tucked into a strip mall between a bar and a supermarket. They wanted.... More

Silicon Valley turns its eye to education
The education technology business is chock-full of fledgling companies whose innovative ideas have not yet proved effective — or profitable. But that is not slowing investors, who are pouring money into ventures as diverse as free.... More

Fight the flu with your smartphone
The flu has officially gone viral. Not content to invade just our bodies, influenza is taking over our smartphones with a slew of apps. Now you can look up symptoms, check the spread of the disease and even book a doctor’s visit, all at your.... More

Fight the flu with your smartphone
The flu has officially gone viral. Not content to invade just our bodies, influenza is taking over our smartphones with a slew of apps. Now you can look up symptoms, check the spread of the disease and even book a doctor’s visit, all at your.... More

When outside factors dictate retirement age
FOR many, deciding to retire can be as straightforward as reaching Social Security eligibility age or amassing a solid nest egg. But for others mulling over when to stop work, there are other powerful, if less measurable, considerations like.... More

Job growth fails to help paychecks of workers
The nation’s economy is entering 2015 in its best shape since the recession, but the improving job market has so far failed to help most Americans earn significantly more at work. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that employers added.... More

Americans use more online social networks
Teenagers may be spending more time on messaging services like Snapchat, but American adults are still increasing their use of social networks, according to a new survey released Friday by the Pew Research Center. The Pew survey, conducted in.... More

Obama plan would help many go to college free
WASHINGTON — President Obama said Thursday that he would propose a government program to make community college tuition-free for millions of students, an ambitious plan that would expand educational opportunities across the United States. The.... More

To treat depression: drugs or therapy?
You’re feeling down, and your doctor or therapist has confirmed it: You have depression. Now what? Until recently, many experts thought that your clinician could literally pick any antidepressant or type of psychotherapy at random because,.... More

December caps a strong year for jobs, but wages dip
Capping the best year for job growth since 1999, employers added 252,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department reported Friday, and unemployment fell to 5.6 percent. The number of new people put on payrolls last month was above what economists.... More

From a pile of dirt, hope for a powerful new antibiotic
An unusual method for producing antibiotics may help solve an urgent global problem: the rise in infections that resist treatment with commonly used drugs, and the lack of new antibiotics to replace ones that no longer work. The method, which.... More

Texas abortion case will test rules
NEW ORLEANS — Lawyers for abortion clinics squared off with Texas state attorneys in a federal appeals court here on Wednesday, arguing over the constitutionality of stringent abortion clinic rules that would force more than half the.... More

Obama will outline proposals to bolster housing sector
WASHINGTON — The job market is stirring, gas prices are plunging and stocks are near record levels, but a housing sector that dragged the nation into the worst recession since the Depression remains the black spot in an otherwise resurgent.... More

Study finds more reasons to get and stay married
A new economics paper has some old-fashioned advice for people navigating the stresses of life: Find a spouse who is also your best friend.
Social scientists have long known that married people tend to be happier, but they debate whether that.... More

As seen on TV, novelizations sustain fans
In “Bratva,” a new crime novel by Christopher Golden, a grizzled motorcycle gang vice president named Jax Teller and his loyal sidekicks Opie and Chibs take on Russian mobsters to rescue Jax’s half sister. Some 200 pages of gun battles,.... More

Home schooling: more pupils, less regulation
FREEPORT, Pa. — Until recently, Pennsylvania had one of the strictest home-school laws in the nation. Families keeping their children out of traditional classrooms were required to register each year with their local school district,.... More

School lunches healthier than those packed at home
Many parents undoubtedly think they are doing the best for their children by having them bring lunch from home instead of eating the lunches served in school. But recent studies clearly prove them wrong. Home-packed lunches, the research showed.... More

New York City requiring flu shots for preschoolers
New York City preschoolers will be heading back to class next week with memories of new holiday toys, vacation adventures, and, health officials hope, a flu shot. In fact, because of a new city requirement, young children can, for the first.... More

Inside a Chinese test-prep factory
The main street of Maotanchang, a secluded town in the furrowed hills of eastern China’s Anhui province, was nearly deserted. A man dozed on a motorized rickshaw, while two old women with hoes shuffled toward the rice paddies outside town. It.... More

Web freedom is seen as a growing global issue
SAN FRANCISCO — Government censorship of the Internet is a cat-and-mouse game. And despite more aggressive tactics in recent months, the cats have been largely frustrated while the mice wriggle away. But this year, the challenges for Silicon.... More

Vacation hoarders struggle to take earned time off
A three-week trip to Guatemala last year should have been the ultimate opportunity for Brett Mathiowetz to unwind. Instead, the construction company owner was stressed out, with work on his mind. “It was a bittersweet kind of deal,” he said.... More

A look back at the year in business
Dinner is about to begin. Please, take your seats. Welcome to our annual DealBook “Closing Dinner,” where we toast — and more important, roast — the corporate world and finance industry. It’s been quite a year, punctuated by an.... More

A brand new world in which men ruled
PALO ALTO, CALIF. — In the history of American higher education, it is hard to top the luck and timing of the Stanford class of 1994, whose members arrived on campus barely aware of what an email was, and yet grew up to help teach the rest of.... More

Exercise to lose weight? Stay warm
If you’re hoping that exercise might keep you from gaining weight this holiday season, you may want to dial up the thermostat and do your workout indoors. According to a surprising new study, exercising in chilly temperatures could undermine.... More

F.D.A. easing ban on gays, to let some give blood
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it would scrap a decades-old lifetime prohibition on blood donation by gay and bisexual men, a major stride toward ending what many had seen as a national policy of.... More

School finds music is the food of learning
The principal, unsmiling in his jacket and tie, launched himself into the air, jumping up and down at the back of the gymnasium, waving frantically at more than 100 first graders as they rehearsed for their holiday concert. Franklin Headley,.... More

Death penalty use steadily falls in U.S.
WASHINGTON – The death penalty continued its slow and steady two-decade decline this year, as fewer convicted murderers were sentenced to die and most executions were limited to just three states, according to a report scheduled for release.... More

U.S. unveils rating plan for colleges
In a report due out on Friday, the Obama administration will offer its first public glimpse of a planned system for rating how well colleges perform, saying it plans to group schools into just three broad categories — good, bad and somewhere.... More

A steep slide in law school enrollment accelerates
The bottom of the law school market just keeps on dropping. Enrollment numbers of first-year law students have sunk to levels not seen since 1973, when there were 53 fewer law schools in the United States, according to the figures just released.... More

For that door-to-treadmill service
When it comes to fitness, Vanessa Martin will do everything except actually sweat for you. Ms. Martin’s two-year-old fitness-concierge business, SIN Workouts, recommends and books group fitness classes such as SoulCycle for clients. (Cost:.... More

Microchips, Facebook are making pet licenses obsolete
Dog owners in Victoria are about to join a growing number in the Twin Cities no longer required to get licenses — a change set in motion by social media and implantable microchips that now help people find lost pets. “It’s been in our.... More

Questioning the idea of good carbs, bad carbs
The idea that all carbohydrates are not created equal has become the foundation of many popular diets. Some argue that foods like white bread and potatoes, which have a high so-called glycemic index because they spike blood sugar and insulin,.... More

E-cigarettes top smoking among youths, study says
WASHINGTON — A new federal survey has found that e-cigarette use among teenagers has surpassed the use of traditional cigarettes as smoking has continued to decline. Health advocates say the trend for e-cigarette use is dangerous because it.... More

Mayo seeks to dominate with data
ROCHESTER – The patients arrive at the Mayo Clinic from all over the world, thousands a day, each presenting a different medical challenge. Some have illnesses so rare that even medical journals don’t offer a time-tested treatment plan..... More

Curiosity Rover's quest for clues on Mars
More than 3.5 billion years ago, a meteor slammed into Mars near its equator, carving a 96-mile depression now known as Gale Crater. That was unremarkable. Back then, Mars, Earth and other bodies in the inner solar system were regularly.... More

E-sports at college, with stars and scholarships
Loc Tran is a big man on campus at San Jose State University in Northern California. “A lot of people stop me when I’m walking,” said Mr. Tran, a 19-year-old sophomore, who speaks in quick and confident bursts. “They congratulate me.”.... More

Brighter economy raises odds of action in Congress
WASHINGTON — A strikingly improving labor market, coupled with broad economic growth and a falling federal budget deficit, is improving the prospects of bipartisan cooperation next year — if Republicans and Democrats can seize on easing.... More

Deadlier flu season is possible, C.D.C. says
This year’s flu season may be deadlier than usual, and this year’s flu vaccine is a relatively poor match to a new virus that is now circulating, federal health officials warned on Thursday. “Flu is unpredictable, but what we’ve seen.... More

Barnes and Noble and Microsoft end Nook partnership
When Microsoft invested $300 million in Barnes & Noble’s Nook division in 2012, it appeared that the last big brick-and-mortar bookstore chain had found its savior. The deal valued the Nook business at $1.7 billion — more than the market.... More

Reports of sexual assaults in military on the rise
WASHINGTON — A new military study says that reports of rapes and sexual assaults in the military increased 8 percent in the fiscal year ending September 2014, Obama administration officials said. The results are bound to draw attention,.... More

Good news inside the health care spending numbers
Inside the continuing slowdown in the growth in health spending is evidence that the American health care system may be changing in ways that could make it more affordable in the years to come. As my colleague Robert Pear reported, health.... More

Women who work
If Peggy Young, who was a driver for United Parcel Service, had had an accident that limited her ability to lift heavy packages, or even lost her license because of driving while intoxicated, U.P.S. would have allowed her to go on “light.... More

FDA could ease ban on gay blood donations
WASHINGTON – The federal government is on the brink of lifting restrictions put in place more than 30 years ago when regulators, alarmed by the spread of the virus that causes AIDS, forbade men who had sex with other men from donating blood..... More

Alcohol produces big bucks for states
LAWRENCEBURG, KY. – Alcohol may not be single-handedly saving state and local budgets from the red, but it is helping. Consider Kentucky. Coal mines in parts of the state are struggling to stay open, but here among the rolling hills of horse.... More

Budget problems? Answer may be found in a bottle
LAWRENCEBURG, Ky. — Alcohol may not be single-handedly saving state and local budgets from the red, but it is certainly helping. Consider Kentucky. Coal mines in parts of the state are struggling to stay open, but here among the gently.... More

Long, slow holiday lines put the snail in mail
Merle Minda walked into the main downtown Minneapolis post office with a package one day last week and got in line behind nine other people. Fifteen minutes later, she advanced one place. Fifteen minutes after that, her husband came in from the.... More

Why antioxidents don't belong in your workout
Antioxidant vitamins are enormously popular with people who exercise. The supplements are thought to alleviate muscle damage and amplify the effects of exercise. But recent studies have raised questions about whether antioxidants might be.... More

Study finds most with H.I.V. don't take medicine
Just 30 percent of Americans with H.I.V. have the virus in check, putting others at risk of infection, health officials said Tuesday. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 840,000 of the 1.2 million people.... More

Bringing education to African girls
THE HAGUE — Two decades ago, when Ann Cotton, a British educator and philanthropist, started examining the problem of low school enrollment among girls in rural Zimbabwe, she was struck by the crushing poverty, which to her presented an even.... More

Radiologists are reducing the pain of uncertainty
When Dr. Jennifer Kemp’s husband got advanced rectal cancer, she got an unexpected patient’s-eye view of her profession. Her husband was having scans every three months, terrified each time that they might reveal bad news. Dr. Kemp, a.... More

Lawmakers hope to offset rising costs of generic drugs
With the prices for some common generic medicines soaring over the past 18 months, state and federal lawmakers are trying to find relief for patients struggling to pay. On Thursday, a Senate panel convened to investigate price increases for.... More

F.D.A. plans broad rules for calories in restaurants
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration will announce sweeping rules on Tuesday that will require chain restaurants, movie theaters and pizza parlors across the country to post calorie counts on their menus. Health experts said the new.... More

Texas approves disputed history texts for schools
AUSTIN, Tex. — Texas’ State Board of Education has approved new history textbooks, but only after defeating six and seeing a top publisher withdraw a seventh — capping months of outcry over lessons that some academics say exaggerate the.... More

Settlement in Apple case over e-books is approved
A federal judge on Friday approved a settlement in which Apple could begin paying $400 million to as many as 23 million consumers related to charges that it violated antitrust law by conspiring with publishers to raise e-book prices and thwart.... More

Comparing college costs the easy way
If you’re a shoestring start-up trying to get noticed in an enormous industry, there’s nothing that helps more than having big players try to ban you. But from financial services to airlines, the pattern repeats itself again and again, as.... More

Obama launches sales mission for immigration measures
LAS VEGAS — Mounting an offensive behind his immigration directives, President Barack Obama on Friday insisted House Republicans must take up a comprehensive immigration overhaul but said the system is so unfair that it needs the type of.... More

Living with cancer: gravy days
When I was diagnosed in November 2008, I began counting forward, assuming I would die by November 2013, at the latest. Prognosis for late-stage ovarian cancer is three to five years, even with state-of-the-art treatment. November, which happens.... More

How to arrive at the best health policies
When the 48-year-old man from Oregon didn’t have insurance, he felt he had no place to go but the emergency room. The man, who has diabetes, went to the emergency room often when he suffered from kidney stones. “Emergency rooms, from what I.... More

Malicious software said to spread on Android phones
For years security researchers have warned that it was only a matter of time before nasty digital scourges like malicious software and spam would hit smartphones. Now they say it is has finally happened. A particularly nasty mobile malware.... More

Falling wages at factories squeeze the middle class
For nearly 20 years, Darrell Eberhardt worked in an Ohio factory putting together wheelchairs, earning $18.50 an hour, enough to gain a toehold in the middle class and feel respected at work. He is still working with his hands, assembling seats.... More

Most heavy drinkers are not alcoholics
Most people who drink to get drunk are not alcoholics, suggesting that more can be done to help heavy drinkers cut back, a new government report concludes. The finding, from a government survey of 138,100 adults, counters the conventional.... More

University of California is set to raise tuition
SAN FRANCISCO — Over the protests of hundreds of angry and chanting students, a panel of the University of California Board of Regents gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a plan to raise tuition 27.6 percent over five years, turning aside.... More

Snow blankets parts of New York as U.S. feels chill
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A ferocious storm dumped massive piles of snow on parts of upstate New York, trapping residents in their homes and stranding motorists on roadways, as temperatures in all 50 states fell to freezing or below. Even hardened.... More

New push for changes to ATV design
Nearly a decade ago, doctors in Nova Scotia thought they had found a way to protect children from being injured or killed on all-terrain vehicles. The Canadian province banned children younger than 14 from operating any kind of ATV almost.... More

Honda to replace airbags throughout the U.S.
Honda will replace potentially defective airbag inflaters in cars nationwide, according to statements the automaker gave federal safety regulators earlier this month. In doing so, it bows to pressure from lawmakers and auto safety experts who.... More

Class Dojo adopts deletion policy for student data
The maker of ClassDojo, a popular behavioral tracking app used in schools across the United States, announced revisions on Tuesday in the way it retains student information. Starting in January, the company intends to keep students’.... More

Sexting is 'new norm' for teens, research finds
Texting and “sexting,” sending sexually explicit messages via mobile phone, are firmly entrenched in the high school dating scene these days, but until now little solid data has existed on to what extent these social media connections have.... More

Health care law recasts insurers as Obama allies
WASHINGTON — As Americans shop in the health insurance marketplace for a second year, President Obama is depending more than ever on the insurance companies that five years ago he accused of padding profits and canceling coverage for the sick.... More

Road tests of alternative fuel visions
LOS ANGELES — Remember the hydrogen car? A decade ago, President George W. Bush espoused the environmental promise of cars running on hydrogen, the universe’s most abundant element. “The first car driven by a child born today,” he said.... More

Coal rush in India could tip balance on climate change
DHANBAD, India — Decades of strip mining have left this town in the heart of India’s coal fields a fiery moonscape, with mountains of black slag, sulfurous air and sickened residents. But rather than reclaim these hills or rethink their.... More

At Brigham Young, students push to lift ban on beards
PROVO, Utah — The dark pants, tightly knotted ties and crisp white shirts that once defined the Mormon man are nearly absent at Brigham Young University, the Mormon school that dominates this city. Instead, the young men crisscrossing this.... More

States ignore Federal ATV age limits
For years, federal regulators, doctors and the all-terrain vehicle industry have agreed: Children should not ride ATVs designed for adults.But in most states, the practice is legal. In Minnesota, lawmakers even dropped the age limit from 16 to.... More

Deadline extended for G.M. accident claims
The families of people killed or injured in crashes involving General Motors cars that had a deadly ignition switch defect will have an extra month to submit claims for payment under G.M.’s victim compensation program. Kenneth R. Feinberg,.... More

Avian flu detected in the Netherlands and Britain
LONDON — Health officials moved to combat outbreaks of bird flu at poultry farms in Britain and the Netherlands on Monday, culling thousands of chickens and ducks to avert the spread of infection. On Sunday, the Dutch authorities blocked the.... More

ATV thrills drive child injuries, deaths
Ryan Anderson is not yet 2, but he is already a veteran of the Luck Area ATV Club. As his family prepares for its weekly trail ride through the woods of western Wisconsin, Ryan is strapped in to the Polaris Ranger, his helmet secured to the.... More

Some new frustrations as Health Exchange opens
WASHINGTON — The health insurance marketplace opened for business on Saturday and performed much better than last year, but some consumers reported long, frustrating delays in trying to buy insurance and gain access to their own accounts at.... More

The brotherhood of the stay-at-home dad
DENVER — “Choo-choo-wa! Choo-choo-wa! Choo-choo-wa-wa-wah!”
The words — the theme song of a children’s cartoon — were being bellowed by six grown men huddled on a makeshift stage in a hotel banquet room. The song leader, an.... More

Do multiple relationships before marriage damage it?
Now 31, Rodney Jordan said his brief marriage at age 22 was doomed before it started. When he wed, he said, he had had many failed relationships. Jordan, a sixth-grade teacher in Manassas, Va., said he was “insecure and running from a bad.... More

Study finds warmer, wetter world means more lightning
WASHINGTON — Lightning strikes in the United States will likely increase by nearly 50 percent by the end of the century as the world gets warmer and wetter, a new study says. While those conditions were already known to promote thunderstorms.... More

Schools on reservations cry out for repairs
BENA, Minn. — When temperatures drop and snow falls, students bundle themselves in heavy coats inside Marlene Stately’s classroom. Winter comes early and bites hard on this Indian reservation in northern Minnesota, and the pole barn that.... More

On elite campuses, an arts race
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Closed for six years, the Harvard Art Museums reopen here Sunday after a radical overhaul by the architect Renzo Piano. He saved only the shell of the chaste, red-brick Fogg Museum and its interior courtyard, extending it.... More

Average debt load for college grads: $30,894
The problem of high debt discourages low-income high school students from applying to college because they do not realize they may be eligible for financial aid and scholarships, said Brooke Hanson, manager of college program curriculum and.... More

Why are there so few new drugs invented today?
In the fall of 1999, a young chemical engineer named Todd Zion left his job at Eastman Kodak to enroll in the Ph.D. program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While looking for a subject to research, Zion noticed a grant proposal,.... More

Exercising but gaining weight
Exercise has innumerable health benefits, but losing weight may not be among them. A provocative new study shows that a substantial number of people who take up an exercise regimen wind up heavier afterward than they were at the start, with the.... More

Cuts in military mean job losses for career staff
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — For all the insecurities of war, Capt. Elder Saintjuste always figured the one thing he could count on from the Army was job security. A Haitian immigrant who enlisted as a teenager, he deployed three times to Iraq,.... More

U.S. to focus on equity in assigning of teachers
The Obama administration is directing states to show how they will ensure that all students have equal access to high-quality teachers, with a sharp focus on schools with a high proportion of the poor and racial minorities.
In a letter to.... More

The drive: texting drivers put us all at risk
The family of a 15-month-old toddler who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a head-on car crash last summer in Eagan is cautiously optimistic that he will make a full recovery. Henry Knoof underwent emergency surgery to remove a blood clot in.... More

States listen as parents give rampant testing an F
ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida embraced the school accountability movement early and enthusiastically, but that was hard to remember at a parent meeting in a high school auditorium here not long ago. Parents railed at a system that they.... More

Cubicles rise in a brave new world of publishing
Michael Pietsch was given his first private office when he became an editor at Charles Scribner’s Sons 30 years ago. He got his first corner office when he was named publisher of Little, Brown and Company in 2001. He moved into an even bigger.... More

Ebola's mystery: one boy lives, another dies
SUAKOKO, Liberia — Soon after he lost his parents to Ebola, Junior Samuel, 8, slumped in a plastic chair inside a treatment center here, listless, feverish and racked with aches. Within a day, he began bleeding from his gums, a particularly.... More

Massachusetts town weighs tobacco ban
WESTMINSTER, Mass. — The cartons of Marlboros, cans of Skoal and packs of Swisher Sweets are hard to miss stacked near the entrance of Vincent's Country Store, but maybe not for much longer: All tobacco products could become contraband if.... More

Our 'mommy' problem
WHEN I hear someone telling an expectant mother that having a baby will turn her into a new person, I can’t help but imagine a pathologically optimistic weather forecaster brightly warning that an oncoming tornado is about to give a town.... More

The leave seldom taken
Five months after Todd Bedrick’s daughter was born, he took some time off from his job as an accountant. The company he works for, Ernst & Young, offered paid paternity leave, and he decided to take six weeks — the maximum amount — when.... More

Justices to hear new challenge to health law
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a new challenge to the Affordable Care Act, potentially imperiling President Obama’s signature legislative achievement two years after it survived a different Supreme Court challenge.... More

With Republican Senate, many eye a device tax repeal
Tuesday’s Republican victories in Washington inspired strong optimism among medical device companies in Minnesota and nationwide for a repeal of the 2.3 percent sales tax on their products.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, incoming Senate.... More

Personal tech: augmenting your password-protected world
USERNAME and password combination has long been the standard security mechanism for online accounts. But that method just isn’t cutting it anymore. Huge data breaches, in which hackers gain access to personal information, have risen sharply.... More

Women in both parties disappointed by modest gains
WASHINGTON — When Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, beat Scott Brown to win re-election on Tuesday, her supporters saw history being made — although not by Ms. Shaheen. “Scott Brown made feminist history,” crowed an.... More

Oklahoma Supreme Court blocks two abortion laws
The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked two new laws that critics say may have made it difficult for women to obtain abortions in the state.
The measures, approved by the State Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin, took.... More

A debatable fix for young eyes
BERKELEY, CALIF. — Lilith Sadil, 12, climbs into an examination chair here at the Myopia Control Center at the University of California. “Do you know why you are here?” asks Dr. Maria Liu, an optometrist. “Because my eyes are changing.... More

Not just money-counters
Known primarily as number crunchers and tax collectors, treasurers for state and local governments traditionally were limited to activities like processing payrolls, managing budgets, safeguarding pensions and being the target of accountant.... More

Small business divided over minimum wage votes
Workers in five states could get a raise after Election Day. Some small-business owners say raising the minimum wage will pressure their companies, forcing them to cut employees’ hours or jobs. Others say it’s the right thing to do for.... More

Bracing for the falls of an aging nation
SAN FRANCISCO — Eleanor Hammer, 92, executes a tightly choreographed, slow-motion pas de deux with her walker during meal times at The Sequoias, a retirement community here. She makes her way to the buffet, places her food on the walker’s.... More

College family weekend isn't just for parents any more
When Diane LaPointe went off to Wesleyan University in 1975, her parents dropped her off freshman year and didn’t return until graduation. “I put my stuff in storage and took the bus home during breaks,” she said. Now that her daughter,.... More

Legally high at a Colorado campus
In an apartment complex just outside the western edge of the University of Colorado’s flagship campus, a 22-year-old psychology major named Zach has just leaned over an expensive oil rig — a twisting glass tube that he will use to smoke.... More

A heart risk in drinking water
Ana Navas-Acien can’t quite recall the moment when she began to worry about arsenic in drinking water and its potential role in heart disease. Perhaps it was when she read a study suggesting a link among people in Bangladesh. And a similar.... More

The pot talk: just say no, yes or maybe
Ever since smoking pot became ubiquitous among American teenagers in the 1960s, parents have struggled with how to talk to their children about it and how to protect them from its negative effects. Now, in an era of broader acceptance — two.... More

Apple chief coming out: "This will resonate."
Tim Cook’s declaration on Thursday that “I’m proud to be gay” made him the first publicly gay chief executive of a Fortune 500 company. But Mr. Cook isn’t just any chief executive. And Apple isn’t any company. It’s one of the most.... More

Greek letters at a price
Imagine finding a bill for $200 in your mailbox because your daughter was late to a couple of sorority events. Imagine, too, that those who snitched were her new best friends. This is one of the unwelcome surprises of sorority membership..... More

Cause of children's paralysis remains unclear
More than 50 children in 23 states have had mysterious episodes of paralysis to their arms or legs, according to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cause is not known, although some doctors suspect the cases.... More

Report reveals wider tracking of mail in U.S.
WASHINGTON — In a rare public accounting of its mass surveillance program, the United States Postal Service reported that it approved nearly 50,000 requests last year from law enforcement agencies and its own internal inspection unit to.... More

More retirees are turning to migrant work
EAST GRAND FORKS, MINN. – Dusk settled over the campground by the Red River, and inside her spacious motor home, 64-year-old Theresa Delikat was just waking up. It was time to have dinner with her husband, Tom, back from driving a truck in.... More

Happily going nowhere fast
Just 325 feet from a SoulCycle studio on East Fourth Street in Manhattan, the door to a former plant store leads to a hall of mirrors bathed in the colors of a Colorado sunset. Inside, 30 treadmills sit on a spring-loaded, black AstroTurf floor.... More

The advanced 7-minute workout
Ever since the magazine published the Scientific 7-Minute Workout in May last year, readers have been writing and tweeting their requests for an updated, more advanced version. For them, the workout became too easy or humdrum, as tends to.... More

Cheaper to buy than to rent a home
New research from the real estate website Trulia finds that homeownership is less expensive than renting in all of the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. The advantage narrows considerably, however, when the home buyer uses a.... More

Your big box vacation
Amid the three-pound tubs of peanut butter, the 36-roll packs of toilet paper and the discounted Calvin Klein underwear is a large poster of a beach, a palm tree and a question: “Wish you were here?” The poster is positioned beside the.... More

Online harassment is routine among adults
The vitriol from strangers on Twitter is worst when Kate O’Reilly tweets about politics. People call her stupid, lob harsh insults and make lewd references to female anatomy. O’Reilly, a longtime Twitter enthusiast from Minneapolis who has.... More

No picket fence: younger adults opting to rent
VIENNA, Va. — On a recent sunny afternoon, a half-dozen grinding and spinning cement trucks helped lay the foundation for what many real estate developers see as the most promising housing opportunity in post-recession America: apartment.... More

How music can boost a high-intensity workout
Intense, highly demanding exercise has many health benefits and one signal drawback. It can be physically unpleasant, which deters many people from beginning or sticking with an intense exercise program. An encouraging new study, however,.... More

What if age is nothing but a mind-set?
One day in the fall of 1981, eight men in their 70s stepped out of a van in front of a converted monastery in New Hampshire. They shuffled forward, a few of them arthritically stooped, a couple with canes. Then they passed through the door and.... More

States ease laws that protected poor borrowers
Lenders have come under fire in Washington in recent years. Yet one corner of the financial industry — lending to people with poor credit scores — has found sympathetic audiences in many state capitals. Over the last two years, lawmakers.... More

Breast cancer survivors find new strength in exercise
In her work as a certified lymphedema specialist, Kim Schminkey had helped scores of breast cancer survivors manage the painful, frustrating side effect of breast cancer surgery. At 36, the Wyoming, Minn., mother of two developed it herself in.... More

Wyoming prepares to legalize same-sex marriage
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming stood poised Tuesday to become the latest state to allow gay marriage, bringing the national wave of expanded rights for same-sex couples to a state where the 1998 beating death of Matthew Shepard still influences.... More

Genetic variant may shield Latinas from breast cancer
A genetic variant that is particularly common in some Hispanic women with indigenous American ancestry appears to drastically lower the risk of breast cancer, a new study found. About one in five Latinas in the United States carry one copy of.... More

Hugging-averse try to put squeeze on rampant embraces
It’s getting huggy out there. It requires ever less and less acquaintance with someone to be the recipient of an embrace. Among young people and certain gregarious and gestural adults, a hug has replaced the handshake as the new default.... More

Girl Scouts debate their place in a changing world
SALT LAKE CITY — For more than 100 years, the Girl Scouts have been largely known for three core attributes: camping, crafts and cookies. Changing times and fashion are unlikely to alter the appeal of the Thin Mint, but that may not be as.... More

Where young college graduates are choosing to live
When young college graduates decide where to move, they are not just looking at the usual suspects, like New York, Washington and San Francisco. Other cities are increasing their share of these valuable residents at an even higher rate and have.... More

Scare up your Halloween party skills
If you’ve got school-age ghosts and goblins in your home, you should know these basics. • Edible fake blood: Mix together light corn syrup with enough red food dye to get the color you want. Sprinkle in a little unsweetened cocoa powder to.... More

School district is told it must teach immigrants
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Responding to complaints from dozens of Hispanic children who said they had been barred from public school classes on Long Island, the state on Friday issued new legal guidance regarding enrollment procedures, exhorting.... More

Trying to live in the moment (and not on the phone)
There’s a scene in the movie “Her,” a love story between a lonely writer and an artificially intelligent software program, that shows dozens of people riding the subway, deeply absorbed in their smartphones, oblivious to the world around.... More

Mental issues land 34,500 on New York's no-guns list
A newly created database of New Yorkers deemed too mentally unstable to carry firearms has grown to roughly 34,500 names, a previously undisclosed figure that has raised concerns among some mental health advocates that too many people have been.... More

High school mountain bike racing rises in popularity
At the squeal of an air horn, the bik­ers charged out of a start­ing gate, banked a right-hand turn and — legs churn­ing and tires claw­ing at a grav­el path — pedaled up the face of an alp­ine run. The rau­cous, el­bow-to-el­bow.... More

Analysts ask what's next for Google
SAN FRANCISCO — Google is still pulling in money hand over fist, but Wall Street is hungry for the company’s next act. On a conference call with analysts on Thursday, after Google reported its third-quarter earnings, the questions came.... More

Some Harvard professors oppose policy on assaults
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Dozens of Harvard Law School faculty members are asking the university to withdraw its new sexual misconduct policy, saying that it violates basic principles of fairness and would do more harm than good. “Harvard has.... More

When women become men at Wellesley
Hundreds of young women streamed into Wellesley College on the last Monday of August, many of them trailed by parents lugging suitcases and bins filled with folded towels, decorative pillows and Costco-size jugs of laundry detergent. The banner.... More

Gas prices will fall another 15-20 cents a gallon
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gas prices have fallen below $3 a gallon at 43,000 U.S. gas stations, according to GasBuddy.com, or one-third of the stations it tracks. And prices at the pump, already the lowest in four years, should continue to.... More

What's your fitness age?
You already know your chronological age, but do you know your fitness age? A new study of fitness and lifespan suggests that a person’s so-called fitness age – determined primarily by a measure of cardiovascular endurance – is a better.... More

Egg freezing as a work benefit?
Tech companies are famous for their lavish benefits, like in-office haircuts, dry cleaning and massages. Now some of those companies are setting off a debate about women and work with a new benefit — paying for women on the payroll to freeze.... More

Philadelphia teachers hit by latest cuts
PHILADELPHIA — Money is so short at Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences, a public middle school here, that a nurse works only three afternoons a week, leaving the principal to oversee the daily medication of 10 children, including a.... More

Can't sleep? Twin Cities doctor handles bizarre cases
With its bank of oversized computer screens, the Minneapolis sleep clinic’s control room looks like a military command center. Dr. Michael Howell stands in the glare of the monitors analyzing video of a sleeping patient. At first, the.... More

Web-era trade schools, feeding a need for code
SAN FRANCISCO — A new educational institution, the coding boot camp, is quietly emerging as the vocational school for the digital age, devoted to creating software developers. These boot camps reflect the start-up ethic: small for-profit.... More

Why are Americans so fascinated with extreme fitness?
A blond woman in a hot pink spandex tank hoists a sledgehammer over her shoulders, then slams it down with a dull thud onto the big tire in front of her. Beside her, another woman swings her sledgehammer even higher, grimacing and groaning with.... More

Study cites risk to babies sleeping on sofas
Many cases of so-called crib death, about one in eight, occur among infants who have been placed on sofas, researchers reported on Monday. Dr. Jeffrey Colvin, a pediatrician at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., and his colleagues.... More

Supreme Court allows same-sex marriage in Idaho
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday allowed same-sex marriages to proceed in Idaho, lifting a temporary stay issued two days earlier by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. The developments capped a busy week for gay rights. It started with the.... More

As apprentices in classroom, teachers learn what works
OAKLAND, Calif. — Monica DeSantiago wondered how in the world she would get the students to respect her. It was the beginning of her yearlong apprenticeship as a math teacher at Berkley Maynard Academy, a charter school in this diverse city.... More

Fear of vaccines goes viral
Last month The Hollywood Reporter published an illuminating investigation on immunization trends in Los Angeles County, which revealed that vaccination rates on the city’s wealthy west side, in neighborhoods like Beverly Hills and Santa.... More

U.S. Supreme Court blocks Wisconsin's voter ID law
MADISON, Wis. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked Wisconsin from implementing a law requiring voters to present photo IDs, overturning a lower court decision that would have put the law in place for the November election. The 7th U.S.... More

Heart-rending test in Ebola zone: a baby
SUAKOKO, Liberia — Peering inside a red Nissan hatchback that had pulled up to the gate of an Ebola treatment center here, a guard saw an older woman holding a tiny newborn, a young woman sprawled in the back seat and a man in his 60s.... More

Nobel Peace Prize for two children's rights activists
Reaching across gulfs of age, gender, faith, nationality and even international celebrity, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2014 peace prize on Friday to Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India, joining a teenage.... More

Sanitizing and simplifying fiction for young readers
Of all the horrors Louis Zamperini endured during World War II — a plane crash into the Pacific, 47 days stranded at sea, two years in a prisoner-of-war camp — the one experience that truly haunted him was when a Japanese guard tortured.... More

Health law drug plans are given a checkup
When the new health insurance exchanges opened for business one year ago, whether they would succeed was a matter of fervent debate. Who would sign up? Would they know how to use their insurance? And would a flood of seriously ill patients.... More

Wal-Mart cuts health benefits for most part-timers
NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to eliminate health insurance coverage for most of its part-time U.S. employees in a move aimed at controlling rising health care costs of the nation's largest private employer. Starting Jan. 1, Wal-Mart.... More

Ebola infects Spanish nurse; a first in the Wes
BARCELONA, Spain — A nurse in Spain has become the first health worker to be infected with the Ebola virus outside of West Africa, raising serious concerns about how prepared Western nations are to safely treat people with the deadly illness. More

Fighting for the body she was born with
Dutee Chand loves her body just the way it is. She loves her long, dark hair, which is often pulled back into a tight ponytail, and the toned biceps she likes to show off with tank tops. As a young teenager, she was dismayed that her body.... More

Child thought to be rid of H.I.V. suffers relapse
A child in Milan treated early and aggressively with AIDS drugs after being born with H.I.V. suffered a rebound of the virus soon after stopping the drugs, according to a new study in The Lancet. Italian doctors had originally hoped the child.... More

Justices weighing wages for after-work screenings
After his 12-hour shifts at an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas, Jesse Busk says, he and 200 other workers typically waited in line for 25 minutes to undergo a security check to see whether they had stolen any goods. Upset that the temp agency.... More

U.S. jobless rate falls to 6-year low
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added 248,000 jobs last month, a burst of hiring that drove down the unemployment rate to 5.9 percent, the lowest since July 2008. The mostly positive government report also showed that employers added 69,000 more.... More

U.S. patient aided Ebola victim in liberia
DALLAS — The man who has become the first Ebola patient to develop symptoms in the United States told officials at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital last Friday that he had just arrived from West Africa but was not admitted that day because.... More

Would marriage ruin our happiness?
We wrote our vows the day before our wedding, sitting on a rock. I was pregnant, and beside me, shuddering in the wind, was my little plastic grocery bag of Ritz crackers, cereal bars and ginger ale. The bag went everywhere with me, even to the.... More

Would marriage ruin our happiness?
We wrote our vows the day before our wedding, sitting on a rock. I was pregnant, and beside me, shuddering in the wind, was my little plastic grocery bag of Ritz crackers, cereal bars and ginger ale. The bag went everywhere with me, even to the.... More

How exercise may protect against depression
Exercise may help to safeguard the mind against depression through previously unknown effects on working muscles, according to a new study involving mice. The findings may have broad implications for anyone whose stress levels threaten to.... More

Heirloom Popcorn helps a snack reinvent itself
SHELLSBURG, Iowa — Corn confronts you at every turn in Iowa. It blurs past the car window for hours. Stop for gas and you’re likely to find a patch growing out back. Much of it will fuel cars, feed cattle and sweeten food. But a.... More

Apple Pay signals new era at cash register
Not a single purchase has been made with Apple’s new payment system, Apple Pay, which will allow people to pay for everyday goods with their smartphone. But the service, expected in the coming weeks, already has the technology industry.... More

After surgery, predicting a speedy recovery
After surgery, some patients rebound quickly, and some endure weeks of fatigue or pain. What if a blood test could predict which path recovery will take? Surgery could be planned better, and recuperation strategies could be made more effective.... More

The drive: reducing risk is key to safe driving
Standing on a freeway overpass with a camera in hand, AAA driving instructor Mike Torkelson videotaped a few minutes of traffic to see how many motorists allowed proper following distance. Not surprisingly, the video showed that few drivers did.... More

Dire warnings by big tobacco on e-smoking
Tobacco companies, long considered public health enemy No. 1, have suddenly positioned themselves as protectors of consumer well-being in the digital age. They are putting out among the strongest health warnings in the fledgling e-cigarette.... More

Mostly black cities, mostly white city halls
CONYERS, Ga. — Since moving to this small city on the eastern flank of Atlanta’s suburban sprawl, Lorna Francis, a hairdresser and a single mother, has found a handsome brick house to rent on a well-groomed cul-de-sac. She has found a good.... More

Fighting for one last wish: to die at home
Joseph Andrey was 5 years old in 1927 when his impoverished mother sold him to the manager of a popular vaudeville act. He was 91 last year when he told the story again, propped in a wheelchair in the rehabilitation unit of a nursing home where.... More

Finding humane care at the end of life
As the story of Joseph Andrey's last monthsshows, many Americans will end their lives in surroundings that only add to their misery. Those who hoped to die in their own beds are often forced into nursing homes, some of which mistreat patients..... More

Marriage rates keep falling as money concerns rise
Of all the milestones on the road to adulthood, Americans are increasingly forgoing one of the biggest: marriage. Twenty percent of adults older than 25, about 42 million people, have never married, up from 9 percent in 1960, according to data.... More

Fraternities at Wesleyan are ordered to become coed
After a series of high-profile episodes and calls from its student government for change, Wesleyan University has announced that its residential fraternities must all admit women as members and residents. “The trustees and administration.... More

Finding risks, not answers, in gene tests
Jennifer was 39 and perfectly healthy, but her grandmother had died young from breast cancer, so she decided to be tested for mutations in two genes known to increase risk for the disease. When a genetic counselor offered additional tests for.... More

Taking a call for climate change to the streets
Legions of demonstrators frustrated by international inaction on global warming descended on New York City on Sunday, marching through the heart of Manhattan with a message of alarm for world leaders set to gather this week at the United.... More

The expanding American waistline
Average waist circumference — but not body mass index— increased significantly in the United States between 1999 and 2012, a new study reports. Abdominal obesity — a “beer belly” or “beer gut” — is caused by fat around the.... More

U.S. aims to curb peril of antibiotic resistance
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Thursday announced measures to tackle the growing threat of antibiotic resistance, outlining a national strategy that includes incentives for the development of new drugs, tighter stewardship of.... More

Biden: Young men need to stand against violence
WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden says it is time for young men to "stand up" against domestic violence. Biden is speaking to the Democratic National Committee's women's leadership forum. He says the recent 20th anniversary of the.... More

Beating back the risk of diabetes
This year, nearly two million American adults and more than 5,000 children and adolescents will learn they have a potentially devastating, life-shortening, yet largely preventable disease: Type 2 diabetes. They will join 29.1 million.... More

Leaving home, but not the folks
A few weeks ago, boarding school students in the Northeast began moving into their dorm rooms armed with all the usual clatter. The Indian print tapestries, the athletic gear, the odd beanbag chair. But a few of them arrived with some extra.... More

Working longer; not the best retirement savings plan
Thirteen percent of working adults think they will never be able to afford to retire, according to a new survey. What' more, on average, most of us figure we’ll work until age 68. That’s not just depressing. It’s scary. Because it’s.... More

In Kentucky, health law helps voters but saps votes
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Affordable Care Act allowed Robin Evans, an eBay warehouse packer earning $9 an hour, to sign up for Medicaid this year. She is being treated for high blood pressure and Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder, after.... More

Hospitals and insurer join forces in California
In a partnership that appears to be the first of its kind, Anthem Blue Cross, a large California health insurance company, is teaming up with seven fiercely competitive hospital groups to create a new health system in the Los Angeles area. The.... More

Coverage under health care law to end for thousands
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said on Monday that it planned to terminate health insurance for 115,000 people on Oct. 1 because they had failed to prove that they were United States citizens or legal immigrants eligible for coverage.... More

Fixing climate change may add no costs, report says
In decades of public debate about global warming, one assumption has been accepted by virtually all factions: that tackling it would necessarily be costly. But a new report casts doubt on that idea, declaring that the necessary fixes could.... More

The trials of stem cell therapy
Edgar Irastorza was just 31 when his heart stopped beating in October 2008. A Miami property manager, break-dancer and former high school wrestler, Mr. Irastorza had recently gained weight as his wife’s third pregnancy progressed. “I kind.... More

Health law has caveat on renewal of coverage
WASHINGTON — Millions of consumers will soon receive notices from health insurance companies stating that their coverage is being automatically renewed for 2015, along with the financial assistance they received this year from the federal.... More

Limiting choice to control health spending: a caution
To what extent will the recent moderation in the growth of health care prices and spending continue? This is a big question, and the answer relies on many factors. But for plans offered in the new health insurance exchanges as well as a.... More

A simple equation: more education = more income
Imagine if the United States government taxed the nation’s one-percenters so that their post-tax share of the nation’s income remained at 10 percent, roughly where it was in 1979. If the excess money were distributed equally among the rest.... More

Drink soda? Take 12,000 steps
People who consume the sweetener fructose — which is most people nowadays — risk developing a variety of health problems. But the risk drops substantially if those people get up and move around, even if they don’t formally exercise, two.... More

Training dogs to sniff out cancer
PHILADELPHIA — McBaine, a bouncy black and white springer spaniel, perks up and begins his hunt at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. His nose skims 12 tiny arms that protrude from the edges of a table-size wheel, each holding samples of blood.... More

Applications for U.S. unemployment rise to 315K
WASHINGTON — More people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, though the trend in benefit applications in the past month remained low. The Labor Department says that weekly applications for unemployment aid rose 11,000 to a seasonally.... More

Foundation sends kin of 9/11 victims to college
Sean Booker was a Xerox technician on the 93rd floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower. The Newark resident was at work when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the building on Sept. 11, 2001. The oldest of his three children,.... More

Narrow health networks: maybe they're not so bad
Lots of people shopping in the new health care marketplaces this year picked health plans that limited their choice of doctors and hospitals. The plans were popular because they tended to cost less than more conventional plans that covered.... More

Invitation to a dialogue: working for non-profits
Several million college seniors are back to school and staring the transition to the working world in the face. Nearly half of those in career-oriented programs like business and engineering say they’ll pursue corporate gigs, presumably the.... More

D.E.A. to allow return of unused pills to pharmacies
Concerned by rising rates of prescription drug abuse, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced Monday that it would permit consumers to return unused prescription medications like opioid painkillers to pharmacies. The move is intended to.... More

Top colleges that enroll rich, middle-class and poor
Vassar has taken steps to hold down spending on faculty and staff. Amherst and the University of Florida have raised new money specifically to spend on financial aid for low-income students. American University reallocated scholarships from.... More

So Bill Gates has this idea for a history class . . .
In 2008, shortly after Bill Gates stepped down from his executive role at Microsoft, he often awoke in his 66,000-square-foot home on the eastern bank of Lake Washington and walked downstairs to his private gym in a baggy T-shirt, shorts,.... More

Legal use of marijuana clashes with work rules
DENVER — Brandon Coats knew he was going to fail his drug test. Paralyzed in a car crash when he was 16, he had been using medical marijuana since 2009 to relieve the painful spasms that jolted his body. But he smoked mostly at night, and.... More

New service offers taxis exclusively for women
New Yorkers can already choose from yellow taxis, green cabs or black livery cars. They can tap a smartphone app for a ride, or simply stick out an arm. They can pay with cash or credit. Now there is one more option: a female driver. A new.... More

A retirement home with a 3-star chef
EVANSTON, Ill. — Some of the toughest reservations to get in this affluent suburb of Chicago are for the early tables at the Mather, a senior community of $1 million condominiums near Lake Michigan. Citrus-dressed duck breasts and.... More

School district bans suspensions of youngest students
Minneapolis public schools Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson has banned the suspension of the district’s youngest learners, a unilateral move aimed at keeping children in class and forcing teachers to dole out discipline in school. “We.... More

Is horseback riding good exercise?
It’s very good exercise for the horse and, depending on how you ride, can be moderate or even strenuous exercise for you, too. According to a comprehensive and periodically updated scientific compilation of the energy costs of various.... More

F.D.A. allows first use of a novel cancer drug
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first of an eagerly awaited new class of cancer drugs that unleashes the body’s immune system to fight tumors. The drug, which Merck will sell under the name Keytruda, was approved for.... More

Take note of these back-to-school aids
ALL around the world, students in colleges and schools are getting back to work. And alongside traditional textbooks and notepads, millions of smartphones and tablets — which spent the vacation taking photos, making selfies and messaging.... More

The race gap in America's police departments
In hundreds of police departments across the country, the percentage of whites on the force is more than 30 percentage points higher than in the communities they serve, according to an analysis of a government survey of police departments..... More

Grading teachers, with data from class
Halfway through the last school year, Leila Campbell, a young humanities teacher at a charter high school in Oakland, Calif., received the results from a recent survey of her students. On most measures, Ms. Campbell and her fellow teachers at.... More

The economic price of colleges' failures
Four years ago, the sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa dropped a bomb on American higher education. Their groundbreaking book, “Academically Adrift,” found that many students experience “limited or no learning” in college. Today.... More

Can exercise cause A.L.S.?
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has been all over the news lately because of the ubiquitous A.L.S. ice bucket challenge. That attention has also reinvigorated a long-simmering scientific debate about whether participating in contact sports or.... More

U.S. colleges advised to tighten Ebola precautions
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised American colleges and universities, and any students or staff arriving from nations hit by the Ebola virus, to take precautions against spreading the disease that go beyond what most.... More

Free all-day kindergarten rolls out across Minnesota
Avery Bastian’s pink tennis shoes matched her backpack perfectly. Her Cinderella Thermos was filled. She’d memorized the all-important personal identification number she would need to get breakfast at Hale School in south Minneapolis. And.... More

Obama calls for minimum wage rise and equal pay as elections approach
MILWAUKEE — President Obama on Monday renewed his call to raise the federal minimum wage and to protect the right to equal pay for women as the midterm elections come into sight. In spite of opposition from Republicans, Mr. Obama said, addressing a crowd of about 6,000 people gathered in Milwaukee at.... More

A call for a low-carb diet
People who avoid carbohydrates and eat more fat, even saturated fat, lose more body fat and have fewer cardiovascular risks than people who follow the low-fat diet that health authorities have favored for decades, a major new study shows. The.... More

Childhood diet habits set in infancy, studies suggest
Efforts to improve what children eat should begin before they even learn to walk, a series of nutritional studies published on Tuesday has found. Taken together, the data indicate that infant feeding patterns persist far longer than has been.... More

New Novartis drug effective in treating heart failure
An experimental drug has shown a striking efficacy in prolonging the lives of people with heart failure and could replace what has been the bedrock treatment for more than 20 years, researchers said on Saturday. The drug, which is being.... More

Coverage for end of life talks gaining ground
DUNDEE, N.Y. — Five years after it exploded into a political conflagration over “death panels,” the issue of paying doctors to talk to patients about end-of-life care is making a comeback, and such sessions may be covered for the 50.... More

The changing face of temporary employment
Temps aren’t just employees who sort mail and answer the boss’s phone. The work of temping has changed vastly — today 42 percent of temporary workers labor in light industry or warehouses. And there are more of them. The number of workers.... More

Using gambling to entice low-income families to save
While building up savings offers the best route out of poverty, the glamourless grind of socking away a dollar here and there has a tough time competing with the heady fantasy of a Mega Millions jackpot. But instead of attacking lotteries, a.... More

Fixes: what doctors can't do
Mary White makes house calls. She’s a senior community health worker in Philadelphia in the IMPaCT program at the Penn Center for Community Health Workers. She has 25 of the University of Pennsylvania Health System’s toughest patients..... More

Evictions soar in hot market; renters suffer
MILWAUKEE — Just after 7 a.m., sheriff’s deputies knocked on the door of the duplex apartment, holding a fluorescent orange eviction notice. The process was quick and efficient. A moving crew began to carry out the family’s possessions.... More

Exorcising a phobia, one stroke at a time
On the morning before he was to report to the pool, Attis Clopton sat in a storefront breakfast spot near his Brooklyn apartment munching a glazed doughnut. He was worrying. It was a glorious day, blue sky and hot. The kind when they say the.... More

Samsung unveils smartwatch that can make calls
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Thursday unveiled what it said was the first smartwatch capable of making and receiving calls without a mobile phone nearby, in the South Korean firm's latest effort to find a new growth driver. The world's.... More

Student-built apps teach colleges a thing or two
Vaibhav Verma was frustrated that he could not get into the most popular courses at Rutgers University, so he decided to try a new approach. He didn’t sleep outside classrooms to be first in line when the door opened, or send professors a.... More

Mental health care's growth hits obstacles
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Terri Hall’s anxiety was back, making her hands shake as she tried to light a cigarette on the stoop of her faded apartment building. She had no appetite, and her mind galloped as she grasped for an answer to her latest.... More

Tom Hanks new app pays homage to manual typewriters
(Reuters) - A new app for the iPad aims to recreate the nostalgic sense of typing on a manual typewriter, but ramped up to meet the demands of digital-age word processing. The brainchild of Oscar-winning actor and collector of vintage.... More